AI Literacy as an Imperative for African Public Service Transformation

##Summary

Artificial intelligence is quickly shifting from novel technology to a core capability of modern
states. The evidence from the UN闂佺偨鍎查悰锟� global addendum on AI and digital government indicates
that AI can improve operations by automating administrative processes, increasing efficiency,
and reducing backlogs, but capacity gaps and limited understanding have simultaneously
fuelled an 闂佺偨鍎茬粚缍� regulation race闂佺偨鍎婚幏锟� and sometimes reactive governance. The African Union has
rightly framed AI as both a development opportunity and a governance challenge for Africa.
The question facing African governments is therefore not whether AI will touch public
administration, but whether the public service will have the literacy to deploy, govern, and
procure it with confidence, safety, and legitimacy.

Across the continent, AI adoption remains uneven due to foundational constraints: connectivity
gaps, limited data governance maturity, fragmented institutional mandates, and a shortage
of public-sector capability to translate technical tools into service outcomes. In 2025, the
average share of people using the internet in Africa was just 36%(far below the global
average), highlighting the infrastructural gap that directly influences the pace and design of
AI-enabled service transformation; and the everyday experience that makes digital services
trustworthy and usable.

The case for AI literacy is chiefly a public service modernisation argument. AI-literate public
servants and thus institutions are better able to identify high-impact use cases, redesign
workflows (not just digitise forms), build credible safeguards, and negotiate procurement and
partnerships that do not lock governments into opaque or extractive systems. The citizens of
these countries become beneficiaries to quick turnover of services and their safety protected.

The masterclasses conducted in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa reinforce a practical
conclusion that senior officials want to modernise, and they recognise that core government
functions can greatly benefit from embedding AI. But alongside this optimism, they express
caution and uncertainty about deploying AI in public service, spanning concerns around
procurement, data access, legal risk, public trust, and the difficult boundary between enabling
innovation and preventing harm. Participants repeatedly returned to the same strategic
tension: regulation that is too weak invites abuse and dependency; regulation that is too
sweeping can freeze local innovation and delay service gains. This brief argues that AI literacy
is the capability that allows governments to enable innovation while protecting citizens and
building sovereign, locally grounded systems.