Researchers argue EU-style AI laws misfit African contexts

Researchers writing in The Conversation argue that African AI policymaking has accelerated rapidly but converged too closely on the EU regulatory template. Mauritius published the first African national AI strategy in 2018. The authors - a senior lecturer at the University of Leeds and a research fellow at the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT) at Strathmore University - report that over a dozen African states have since adopted national AI policies. The African Union endorsed its Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy in July 2024, and both Kenya and Ethiopia have tabled draft AI laws.

Kenya tabled a comprehensive Artificial Intelligence Bill in February 2026, establishing a risk-based classification system and an Office of the AI Commissioner, both modelled on EU frameworks. Ethiopia launched a similar draft earlier. The researchers argue this pattern of direct transplantation raises practical concerns: the EU framework was designed for a high-capacity regulatory environment with strong enforcement institutions. Copying it without adaptation risks enforcement gaps, inflated compliance costs for local firms, and regulations disconnected from the harms most prevalent in African markets.

The African Union's Continental AI Strategy explicitly calls for a "people-centric, development-oriented, and inclusive" approach and charges member states with establishing independent oversight institutions. An OECD AI governance case study published in April 2026 highlights significant variation in institutional capacity across the continent and the need for targeted capacity building. The Stimson Center notes that Africa accounts for roughly 2% of global data centers, making the continent disproportionately exposed to AI-related risks such as technological dependencies and data extraction.

Key indicators include whether the Kenya and Ethiopia bills pass with EU-style liability thresholds intact, whether independent AI oversight bodies form as called for by the AU strategy, and whether regional harmonisation through the AU produces a distinct African regulatory standard. AI practitioners building products for African markets should monitor data-localisation requirements and liability regimes in draft legislation, as these directly affect product architecture and deployment decisions.

The Conversation discloses the authors have no commercial affiliations relevant to this topic. Their recommendation for contextualised approaches represents normative academic analysis rather than a government or regulatory position.