Making the Case for Establishing a South African AI Innovation Hub

Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities necessitate an exploration of responsible AI development in Africa to ensure technologies are developed which consider developing nations. Little research has been conducted to understand the impact of the African context on AI development, and whether AI can truly be developed “in Africa by Africans for Africans”. The benefits of an AI Innovation Hub (IH) for addressing contextual concerns are yet to be explored in literature, despite its contextually responsive solution offerings. This paper aims to provide a foundation of knowledge for exploring AI, its relationship to context and South Africa, and IH through summarising, drawing relationships and identifying gaps in existing literature. After exploring the South African landscape, AI implications, and contextual bias are highlighted. The definitions, functions, advantages, and critical success factors of IH are then explored. We conclude that there is a strong case to establish a South African AI Innovation Hub, not only to merely keep up with the developments elsewhere, but to leverage our unique African context in order to build “African AI”.