Story by Eugene Nyarko Jnr. I ACU, Accra l Friday, August 14, 2026
Africa and Ghana have the necessary conditions to take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI), but public awareness and enthusiasm about the technology remain relatively low, a technology expert and General Secretary of the Global South Academic Forum, Mr. Jeff Xiong, has observed.
He said the availability of affordable and open-source AI models meant that African countries could no longer use the cost of technology as an excuse for failing to benefit from advances in AI.
Mr. Xiong was speaking in a media interview during the two-day Beyond AI Workshop, dubbed “Nyansa Futures 2026”, at the Academic City University College, Haatso, Accra.
The workshop, being held from August 14 to 15, 2026, is on the theme: “From Adoption to Ownership, Shaping Africa’s AI Future.”
According to him, China had made advanced AI models available through open-source platforms, providing African countries and individuals with opportunities to use and host the technologies at significantly lower costs.
He cited DeepSeek’s latest model as an example, saying its open-source availability and relatively low cost could make advanced AI accessible to a wider population.
“The objective condition is already there and the people are ready, the country is ready. Now we should start mobilising people,” he said.
However, Mr. Xiong said general enthusiasm for AI in Ghana and Africa was still lower than what he had observed in parts of Asia.
He said while participants at the workshop demonstrated strong interest in AI, many people in the wider society remained unaware of what the technology could do.
He said some people were also frightened by AI because of concerns about job losses and its potential negative effects.
“We cannot be scared of that,” he said, stressing the importance of basic AI literacy to enable people to understand, use and eventually master the technology.
Mr. Xiong said initiatives such as Beyond AI were important because they helped demystify AI and encouraged people to consider how the technology could be applied for their own benefit.
Technology should belong to the people
Mr. Xiong said his involvement in the Beyond AI Movement was influenced by his background in information technology and his long association with the free software movement.
He said he had spent about two decades advocating for technologies that were accessible to ordinary people rather than controlled by a small group of technology companies.
“I believe technology should belong to the people,” he said.
Mr. Xiong said he was particularly concerned about what he described as the tendency of some technology companies to provide African countries with inferior or outdated technologies.
He said the emergence of open-source AI models had created an opportunity to challenge that situation.
“Now Africa deserves the best,” he said.
He said his passion for ensuring that Africans gained access to advanced technology was also influenced by his previous work in Uganda and his connections across the continent.
Mr. Xiong said Africans should take advantage of the availability of open-source AI technologies to begin developing solutions that addressed their own needs.
He said closer cooperation between China and Africa could also contribute to technological development and modernisation across both regions.
He said the objective should be to ensure that Africans had access to advanced technologies and were empowered to build solutions for themselves rather than remaining passive consumers.
