While African governments are still holding meetings on how to regulate artificial intelligence, the technology has already moved ahead and begun making decisions about citizens, determining who gets watched, flagged, and left exposed, all without clear rules to protect them.

Development Diaries reports that the African Union’s Continental AI Strategy Phase I, expected to wrap up in 2026, was designed to help countries align their AI policies, create a shared system for governing data, and answer questions around how will AI strengthen African institutions or quietly turn them into smarter surveillance machines.

Out of 55 African Union member states, only Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, and Rwanda have developed national AI strategies, while the rest are still watching events unfold.

Across the continent, governments and private actors are already deploying AI tools. From biometric ID systems to facial recognition cameras and social media monitoring, the machines are up and running.

The only problem is that in many places, the rules guiding how they should be used are either weak, unclear, or completely absent. It is like installing CCTV cameras in your house before deciding who is allowed to watch the footage.

Then there is the youth angle, which is where things get even more interesting. Africa’s young people, especially Gen Z, have been at the centre of recent civic movements from Nigeria to Morocco. They are digital, vocal, and increasingly organised. They are also the ones most likely to be watched, profiled, and analysed by these AI systems.

And yet, many civic organisations that work with young people are still playing catch-up when it comes to understanding how these technologies actually work. It is a bit like showing up to a football match only to realise the rules have changed, and nobody gave you the memo.

Another quiet but critical issue is data, as the continent is producing data every day, from mobile phone usage to financial transactions, health records, and even farming patterns. But to whom is this data valuable?

Without strong and enforced data governance, African data risks being extracted, processed elsewhere, and then sold back to African governments in the form of AI tools.

In simple terms, we provide the raw materials and then buy the finished product at full price. It is not exactly the kind of economic model you would recommend to a friend.

This is why data sovereignty is about control, ownership, and benefit; and If African countries do not set clear rules now, they may find themselves negotiating from a position where the decisions have already been made for them.

At this point, it is tempting to treat all of this as one of those big, complicated ‘tech conversations’ that only experts should worry about.

But that would be a mistake because the moment AI starts influencing who gets flagged, monitored, and open to opportunities, it becomes everybody’s business.

Citizens can start by paying attention to how technology is being used around them and asking questions that sound simple but are actually very powerful.

Who is collecting our data? What is it being used for? Who is accountable when things go wrong? Civil society groups and tech policy organisations across the continent are already doing some of this work, but they need more voices.

At the same time, governments and regional bodies cannot afford to treat AI governance as a side project. The African Union Commission needs to move with urgency by bringing together governments, civil society, and young people to address the gaps before the 2026 deadline quietly passes.

Member states without clear AI strategies should not be allowed to keep things vague indefinitely. And more importantly, there must be systems to actually audit how AI is being used, not just documents that say it should be used responsibly.

Africa’s window to get this right is still open; but like most things in governance, it will not stay open forever.