Ghana's national AI strategy: Building a responsible and inclusive digital future

In a bold move to transform its economy and governance through artificial intelligence (AI), Ghana has unveiled its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2023–2033). Spearheaded by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation with support from Smart Africa, GIZ FAIR Forward, and The Future Society (TFS), this strategy outlines a decade-long vision to harness AI for inclusive growth, innovation, and sustainable development.

This article explores the strategy's mission, structure, implementation framework, sectoral applications, and governance model, highlighting Ghana's ambition to lead Africa into a responsible AI era.

Vision and Mission

The strategy envisions Ghana in 2033 as an AI-powered society, where citizens, businesses, and governments leverage AI for inclusive socio-economic transformation. Its mission is:

"To harness AI for inclusive growth across all sectors and to improve the lives of people in Ghana, becoming a trailblazer for AI leadership in Africa and beyond."

The Pillars of Ghana's AI Strategy

Ghana's AI Strategy is organized into eight strategic pillars:

1. Expand AI Education and Training

One of the most foundational pillars of Ghana’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy is its ambitious focus on AI education and training. Recognizing that human capital is the cornerstone of any successful AI ecosystem, this pillar aims to cultivate a nation of AI-literate citizens who are not only equipped to use AI tools, but also capable of building, managing, and governing them responsibly. The strategy seeks to embed AI awareness and competencies across all levels of society—starting in early education and extending into professional life.

At the core of this effort is the implementation of annual AI skills gap assessments. These diagnostics will identify deficiencies in the current talent pipeline and anticipate future labor market demands in AI-related fields. By collecting and analyzing data on emerging needs across sectors—such as natural language processing, computer vision, robotics, and AI ethics—policymakers and educators will be better positioned to tailor curricula, training programs, and funding mechanisms. For instance, if a national survey reveals a shortage of data engineers specialized in local language processing, targeted modules and scholarships can be introduced to address this specific gap.

A flagship initiative within this pillar is the “AI Ready Ghana” program, which has the ambitious goal of training one million Ghanaians in AI by 2033. This program will offer modular and scalable courses on AI fundamentals, machine learning, Python for AI, algorithmic thinking, and data ethics. To ensure widespread accessibility, training will be delivered through a combination of national e-learning platforms and regional AI education centers. Importantly, the program is also designed to be inclusive—reaching youth in underserved communities, women, and persons with disabilities to ensure equitable participation in the digital economy.

Another key initiative is the integration of AI into STEM education at all levels, including primary and secondary schools. Drawing inspiration from models like the U.S.-based AI4K12 framework, Ghana intends to gradually introduce students to core AI concepts such as data representation, pattern recognition, automation, and decision-making. This will be achieved through engaging, hands-on learning activities including robotics kits, logic games, no-code programming tools, and project-based learning. The ultimate goal is to foster curiosity and digital confidence in young learners from an early age.

To support this curricular shift, the strategy places a strong emphasis on the upskilling of teachers. Teachers will be trained in both technical knowledge and pedagogical strategies for delivering AI content. This will be facilitated through regional digital academies, which will offer hybrid learning formats—combining online courses, interactive workshops, and peer mentoring. Certification programs will be introduced to officially recognize teachers who complete AI training modules, thereby incentivizing continued professional development in this critical area.

In the long term, this comprehensive educational pillar is expected to produce a generation of Ghanaian innovators who are not only prepared for local and global AI job markets but are also capable of contributing to homegrown, context-aware AI solutions. It also plays a key role in closing the urban-rural divide in digital literacy and ensuring that the country’s digital transformation is rooted in human development. By investing in widespread and inclusive AI education, Ghana is laying the groundwork for a resilient and ethically informed AI ecosystem.

2. Empower Youth for AI Jobs

In alignment with Ghana’s demographic advantage—where nearly 60% of the population is under 25—the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy places significant emphasis on empowering youth to access and thrive in the evolving world of AI-driven work. This pillar recognizes that while technical education is essential, it must be coupled with real-world experience, entrepreneurial support, and inclusive employment pathways to convert knowledge into economic opportunity. The strategy thus aims to foster a generation of AI-enabled professionals, freelancers, and founders who can contribute to both domestic development and the global AI workforce.

A central component of this pillar involves the creation of practical learning pathways for young Ghanaians through AI fellowships, internships, and short courses. These programs will offer hands-on exposure to applied machine learning, data science projects, AI ethics labs, and startup simulations. Crucially, they are designed not only for university graduates but also for vocational students, self-taught coders, and those with non-traditional backgrounds. The government, in collaboration with private sector actors and international partners, will fund and certify these learning opportunities to ensure they are both credible and accessible.

To support AI entrepreneurship among youth, the strategy introduces a system of fiscal incentives for youth-led AI startups, including tax exemptions, innovation grants, and preferential access to government procurement contracts. This policy is intended to reduce the barriers to entry for aspiring founders, particularly those from disadvantaged or rural backgrounds. The goal is to turn Ghana into a fertile ground for local AI solutions—ranging from health diagnostics to financial inclusion tools—developed by young innovators who understand the socio-economic realities of their communities.

In parallel, the strategy prioritizes deep partnerships with national and regional technology incubators, such as AmaliTech, Blossom Academy, and Ghana Tech Lab. These organizations already offer training in software engineering, machine learning, and digital freelancing, and are deeply embedded in the local tech ecosystem. Through formalized collaborations, the government will scale up their impact by integrating AI-specific tracks, co-funding AI startup accelerators, and enabling job placement pipelines for program graduates.

Remote work is also positioned as a core employment pathway. With the rise of global AI freelancing platforms and virtual innovation ecosystems, the strategy sees immense potential for Ghanaian youth to engage in AI micro-tasks, annotation jobs, and remote development contracts. Infrastructure investments and digital identity systems will support this transition, enabling youth across regions—not just in urban hubs—to participate in the global digital economy.

Ultimately, this pillar reflects a proactive and inclusive vision of youth empowerment—where young people are not merely trained as users of AI but are supported to become creators, leaders, and entrepreneurs within the AI ecosystem. By bridging the gap between skills, experience, and opportunity, Ghana hopes to unlock a new generation of digital workers who can drive sustainable and context-aware innovation across Africa.

3. Deepen Digital Infrastructure and Inclusion

A functional and inclusive AI ecosystem requires more than just talent—it depends on robust digital infrastructure capable of supporting data-intensive, computation-heavy technologies. Ghana’s National AI Strategy acknowledges this reality and prioritizes the development of national data centers and cloud infrastructure as foundational investments. These facilities are expected to serve as secure, scalable platforms for government services, research institutions, startups, and private enterprises to store, process, and share data efficiently. Establishing sovereign cloud capacity also addresses concerns around data privacy, security, and digital sovereignty, ensuring that critical national datasets are managed under local jurisdiction. This initiative aligns with Ghana’s broader goals under the “Digital Ghana Agenda,” where smart infrastructure is seen as a key enabler of innovation and economic competitiveness.

In addition to building domestic capacity, the strategy recognizes the need to facilitate affordable access to international high-performance computing resources, such as those offered by AWS, Google Cloud, and NVIDIA. These platforms can dramatically reduce the entry barrier for AI experimentation and deployment, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and research labs that cannot afford to operate their own AI supercomputers. To complement this, the government proposes the introduction of market incentives for AI-focused startups, including subsidized cloud credits, innovation grants, and regulatory fast-tracks for companies working on high-impact AI solutions. By combining local infrastructure development with strategic global partnerships and targeted economic incentives, Ghana aims to democratize access to AI tools and ensure that infrastructure is not a bottleneck but a bridge toward inclusion and innovation.

4. Facilitate Data Access and Governance

At the heart of every AI system lies data—its quality, accessibility, and governance shape the effectiveness and trustworthiness of the technology. Ghana’s AI Strategy places a strong emphasis on ensuring that data is managed ethically, transparently, and securely, laying the groundwork for responsible innovation. A core component of this pillar is the enforcement of existing data protection and cybersecurity legislation, such as the Ghana Data Protection Act (2012) and the Cybersecurity Act (2020). By strengthening regulatory compliance across both public and private sectors, the government aims to build trust among citizens, institutions, and international partners. This is particularly critical in sensitive sectors like health, finance, and education, where breaches or misuse of data can have serious human and economic consequences.

In parallel, Ghana is proactively developing mechanisms to enhance data accessibility without compromising security. To that end, the strategy proposes the creation of public-private data-sharing frameworks, which will enable secure and structured access to datasets for startups, research centers, and government institutions. These frameworks will be supported by the launch of the Ghana Open Data Initiative and a national Data Exchange Hub, designed to facilitate interoperability, metadata standardization, and real-time data access. These platforms will serve as the digital backbone for AI development, particularly in areas where local data is scarce or fragmented. The combination of legal enforcement and technical facilitation represents Ghana’s commitment to creating a data ecosystem that is not only inclusive and innovation-friendly but also grounded in principles of fairness, accountability, and respect for privacy.

5. Coordinate a Robust AI Ecosystem and Community

For AI innovation to thrive in a sustainable and inclusive manner, it must be supported by a well-connected and collaborative ecosystem. Ghana’s strategy recognizes that the success of AI cannot rest solely on government directives or isolated research institutions—it must emerge from a vibrant community of startups, academics, civil society actors, private enterprises, and policy leaders working in synergy. To this end, the strategy commits to establishing physical and virtual AI hubs across the country. These hubs will serve as innovation clusters where developers, researchers, and entrepreneurs can co-create, prototype, and share AI solutions. By strategically placing these hubs beyond major urban centers, the initiative also aims to democratize access to AI infrastructure and opportunities, particularly for youth and innovators in underserved regions.

Moreover, Ghana seeks to deepen its understanding of the national AI landscape by mapping actors in the ecosystem, including efforts to highlight and support underrepresented groups such as women, persons with disabilities, and those from rural communities. This mapping exercise will help guide policymaking, investment, and capacity-building efforts by identifying existing gaps and strengths in the AI value chain. To foster dynamic engagement across sectors, the strategy also encourages collaborative projects and national events, including hackathons, AI challenges, conferences, and policy roundtables. These platforms will not only generate innovative solutions tailored to Ghana’s socio-economic needs but also build trust and knowledge-sharing among stakeholders. In doing so, the strategy envisions an AI ecosystem that is inclusive, agile, and rooted in the collective intelligence of Ghanaian society.

6. Accelerate AI Adoption Across Sectors

Ghana’s AI Strategy places strong emphasis on demonstrating the real-world impact of artificial intelligence through targeted, high-priority sectors. The government has identified healthcare, agriculture, energy, finance, and transportation as foundational domains where AI can rapidly deliver tangible benefits for citizens and institutions alike. In healthcare, AI is seen as a transformative tool for diagnostics, disease surveillance, and telemedicine—particularly in rural areas with limited access to specialists. Tools such as AI-powered diagnostic imaging, predictive analytics for epidemics, and virtual health consultations are expected to enhance both efficiency and equity in service delivery. In agriculture, AI will support precision farming, enabling farmers to monitor soil quality, forecast weather patterns, and optimize irrigation. Climate-smart AI solutions are especially vital in Ghana’s context, where food security is increasingly threatened by changing climate conditions.

Other sectors stand to benefit significantly as well. In the energy sector, AI will be used to support the development of smart grids, allowing for dynamic load balancing, predictive maintenance, and renewable energy integration. The financial sector will benefit from AI-driven fraud detection systems and algorithmic tools that promote financial inclusion by offering microcredit evaluations and risk analysis for underserved populations. Finally, in transportation, AI applications such as route optimization, traffic prediction, and road safety analytics will improve both mobility and infrastructure planning. To catalyze these transformations, the strategy includes a plan to launch five pilot projects—one in each of the targeted sectors—to serve as demonstrators of AI’s potential value. These pilots will not only showcase innovation but also provide crucial feedback loops for refining governance, data policy, and local solution design, ensuring that AI deployment is purpose-driven, context-aware, and aligned with Ghana’s development goals.

7. Invest in Applied AI Research

Recognizing that effective AI systems must be grounded in local realities, Ghana’s National AI Strategy prioritizes applied research tailored to the country’s socio-economic and linguistic context. This pillar is designed to support innovation that emerges from within the Ghanaian research ecosystem rather than being imported wholesale from global models that may not suit the nation’s specific needs. A flagship initiative under this pillar is the creation of a Natural Language Processing (NLP) Centre of Excellence, dedicated to advancing AI systems that can understand and process Ghana’s local languages, dialects, and cultural references. This initiative will allow for the development of AI tools—such as chatbots, voice assistants, and translation engines—that are linguistically and socially relevant to Ghanaians, improving digital inclusivity and public service delivery in native languages like Twi, Ga, and Ewe.

In addition to linguistic innovation, the strategy supports the creation of a National Deep Science Institute, which will serve as a hub for advanced AI research in areas such as deep learning, reinforcement learning, and neural network optimization. This institute is envisioned as a bridge between academic excellence and industrial application, fostering collaboration among universities, startups, and government agencies. One of the key research priorities identified is climate-smart agriculture, where AI will be used to optimize planting cycles, forecast climate risk, and improve yields in environmentally sustainable ways. By focusing on applied, problem-driven research, Ghana aims to build AI capacity that is not only academically rigorous but also directly relevant to local development challenges, reinforcing its ambition to lead Africa in responsible and self-determined AI innovation.

8. Promote AI in Public Sector

Modernizing public administration is a central goal of Ghana’s AI strategy, and this final pillar focuses on integrating artificial intelligence into the core functions of government. The objective is to transform planning, budgeting, and service delivery processes through intelligent automation and data-driven decision-making. AI applications will support everything from policy simulations and resource allocation to fraud detection and citizen feedback analysis. For example, machine learning models can help ministries forecast demand for public services, optimize budget spending, or detect inefficiencies across government operations. By embedding AI tools into the machinery of state, Ghana aims to make its public sector more efficient, transparent, and responsive to the needs of citizens.

To incentivize innovation from within, the strategy also proposes the establishment of an AI reward and recognition system for public servants. This initiative will celebrate forward-thinking civil servants who leverage AI to improve governance and service delivery. It is designed not only to foster a culture of innovation in the bureaucracy but also to empower government employees as key actors in the national AI transformation. Additionally, the strategy embraces open procurement policies that encourage AI startups to participate in public tenders, breaking the traditional monopoly of large vendors. This approach opens up opportunities for smaller, agile tech companies—especially youth- and locally-led firms—to provide AI solutions tailored to Ghana’s governance challenges. In doing so, Ghana envisions a public sector that is not just a beneficiary of AI, but a driver of inclusive, homegrown innovation.

The Responsible AI Office

A major innovation of the strategy is the creation of a Responsible AI Office (RAI Office), modeled on international examples from Singapore, the UK, and Egypt. It will:

• Coordinate implementation across ministries, academia, civil society, and private sector

• Monitor and evaluate AI adoption and impact

• Develop a Ghana AI Readiness Index

• Engage in international AI governance networks (e.g., OECD, GPAI)

SWOT Analysis: Opportunities and Challenges

The strategy is grounded in a realistic diagnostic of Ghana’s AI ecosystem:

• Strengths: Robust startup ecosystem, expanding digital infrastructure, political stability, presence of global actors (Google, Twitter), youth demographic advantage

• Weaknesses: Limited AI-trained talent, weak coordination, low public awareness, limited access to data and compute infrastructure

• Opportunities: NLP innovations for local languages, remote global AI jobs, agriculture and health tech

• Threats: Data misuse, brain drain, exclusion of rural communities, risk of unregulated AI development【131†source】

Global Alignment and Ethical Commitments

Ghana's strategy aligns with international principles and frameworks:

• UNESCO's AI Ethics recommendations

• OECD Principles for Trustworthy AI

• Participation in Smart Africa, AU AI initiatives, and GPAI

The government promotes transparency, fairness, and safety, recognizing the potential harms of AI: from biased algorithms to deepfakes and disinformation. It commits to safeguarding citizens through legislation and self-regulatory tools like the EU AI Trust Label and Singapore’s ISAGO framework.

Conclusion

Ghana’s National AI Strategy represents one of Africa’s most detailed and actionable blueprints for AI governance. It is a forward-thinking, inclusive, and ethical roadmap that integrates education, data governance, research, and public-private coordination.

By centering AI around national development and ethical innovation, Ghana is not only preparing for the future but actively shaping it.

References

• Ghana National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2023–2033)

• Smart Africa, GIZ & TFS, "AI for Africa Blueprint" (2021)

• Oxford Insights, "Government AI Readiness Index" (2020)

• UNESCO, "Ethics of Artificial Intelligence" Recommendation (2021)

• OECD AI Governance Principles

• McKinsey, "AI for Social Good" (2019)