AI AND THE QUESTION OF POWER: GHANA’S SEARCH FOR A GOVERNANCE POSITION
INTRODUCTION In a previous article on the global race for AI governance, I argued that artificial intelligence is not merely a technological contest, but a struggle over power — over whose values, interests, and philosophies shape the systems that increasingly govern economies and societies. Africa has yet to clearly articulate its own governance philosophy , and that absence is not neutrality. It is vulnerability . In a subsequent analysis of continental efforts, particularly the Smart Africa AI Blueprint and the African Union's AI Strategy, I suggested that Africa is not without direction. An approach is emerging: development-driven, adoption-led, and capacity-focused . But it remains incomplete . It is clear on the uses of artificial intelligence , but less explicit on how it is to be governed as an instrument of power , and on whose terms that governance will rest. The question, then, is how this emerging approach translates at the national level. Ghana provides a parti...