{"id":2221,"date":"2026-07-08T15:39:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=2221"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:39:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:39:29","slug":"kagame-says-africas-young-workforce-could-shape-the-future-of-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/08\/kagame-says-africas-young-workforce-could-shape-the-future-of-ai\/economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Kagame says Africa\u2019s young workforce could shape the future of AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Rwanda President Paul Kagame said Africa\u2019s rapidly growing young population could become one of the continent\u2019s greatest advantages in the artificial intelligence era, urging greater investment in skills and innovation to prepare millions of young people for the digital economy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on Wednesday at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, Kagame said Africa has an opportunity to play a leading role in developing and applying artificial intelligence solutions, but only if countries create the right conditions for young innovators to succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2050, Africa is expected to have the world\u2019s largest working-age population, a demographic shift Kagame said could help drive economic transformation if matched with investment in education, connectivity and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe must invest in our young people. It will be a benefit to everyone,\u201d Kagame told participants at the summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said young Africans are already demonstrating creativity by using emerging technologies to address challenges in areas such as healthcare, education and business, but many still lack access to the resources needed to scale their ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTalent exists everywhere but the opportunity to use it does not,\u201d Kagame said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President said governments, universities and the private sector must work together to expand access to digital skills, computing resources and reliable infrastructure so that more people can participate in the technology economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning AI Users into AI Creators<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kagame said Africa\u2019s role in the next phase of technological development should go beyond adopting tools created elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Africa, we are no longer satisfied to be passive consumers of technology,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to build and deploy that technology at scale as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He said responsible use of artificial intelligence will require countries to strengthen governance systems that promote accountability, trust and equal access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kagame also pointed to Rwanda\u2019s experience using AI in healthcare through its Health Intelligence Center, where data analysis supports disease monitoring and helps improve decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global Effort to Expand AI Access<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The remarks were delivered as global leaders, technology executives and researchers met in Geneva for discussions on how artificial intelligence can support human development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AI for Good Global Summit, organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in partnership with Switzerland, is focused on expanding the benefits of AI while addressing challenges related to access, safety and governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the summit, Kagame joined Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff and ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin in launching the International Commission on AI Development and Use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The commission, which brings together more than 40 leaders from governments, businesses and international organizations, aims to develop approaches for increasing public trust in AI, expanding access to its benefits and reducing inequalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kagame said international cooperation will be essential to ensuring that artificial intelligence becomes a tool for shared progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTechnology should be a force for good, and we have a responsibility to use it only for positive purposes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rwanda President Paul Kagame said Africa\u2019s rapidly growing young population could become one of the continent\u2019s greatest advantages in the artificial intelligence era, urging greater […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,43,3,53,41,36,42,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-news","category-current_affairs","category-economy","category-featured-stories","category-hot_topics","category-international","category-news_highlights","category-top_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2226,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221\/revisions\/2226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}