When you think of AI development in Africa, what comes to mind are startups shipping products and raising funds. But a critical part of that revolution is happening in classrooms. Across the continent, universities are moving from being consumers of technology to becoming powerful creators and authors of AI. These institutions are pivoting their research trends to pioneer systems that solve Africa’s problems in healthcare, climate resilience, and indigenous language preservation.
In this article, we spotlight some of the African universities driving AI transformation, ensuring that AI is ethical, localised, and deeply rooted in local knowledge.
University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa
The University of Cape Town (UCT) serves as the coordinating hub for South Africa’s national AI strategy. Located in the Department of Computer Science, UCT hosts the Directorate for the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR), which serves as the national flagship program for AI research, funded by the Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation (DSTI). This model strategically distributes research across eight South African universities while maintaining centralised leadership at UCT.
CAIR’s research scope is broad and extends to fundamental and applied AI, but is unified by the goal to establish a network of AI research chairs. Its established research groups cover complex areas such as the Ethics of AI, AI for Development, and advanced foundational subjects like Knowledge Representation and Reasoning and Adaptive and Cognitive Systems.
This strategic approach means the cutting-edge AI expertise UCT develops is always world-class but focused on home, ensuring it solves real African problems. CAIR’s main goal is to build an entire pipeline of smart talent: setting up top research positions, training the next generation of Master’s and PhD graduates, and working directly with governments and businesses to ensure AI is used ethically and effectively to boost the economy.
UCT also runs the internal Artificial Intelligence Research Unit (AIRU), which aims to provide research and thought leadership across sectors, guiding them on leveraging AI to improve people’s lives. AIRU harnesses “blue sky AI approaches” to explore innovative applications designed to advance the continent. This intensive focus ensures that the technology being developed is resilient, designed to thrive even under harsh African conditions, such as limited data access or unreliable power.
University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa
The University of Pretoria runs the African Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AfriDSAI), whose research centres on addressing the underrepresentation of Africa in global AI datasets, particularly concerning language and vision systems.
UP’s AI-driven work includes groundbreaking projects like the “Abstracts into Indigenous Voices” initiative, which utilises human and machine translation to make academic research abstracts available in indigenous languages, such as isiZulu and Sepedi. The work highlights the “digital scarcity” of African-language data for AI models, but it’s a hands-on way to make indigenous languages strong enough for the digital age and to fight against unfair social biases in technology.
University of Lagos (UNILAG), Nigeria
The University of Lagos has cemented its place on the global AI map through a highly significant collaboration with a major industry leader. In October 2025, OpenAI chose UNILAG to host the continent’s first-ever OpenAI Academy. This partnership signalled a pivotal moment for Nigerian and West African technology, positioning the university as an ideal hub for inclusive innovation.
The Academy’s goal is for the partnership, built on equitable co-design, to turn Africa into an active AI builder instead of just an end-user. This bases all tools and technology on local talent and real African needs.
Ain Shams University (ASU), Egypt
In North Africa, Ain Shams University in Cairo has established specialised programs, such as its Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence program, which integrates cutting-edge theoretical foundations with practical, project-based applications across fields such as computer vision, robotics, and smart systems development.
ASU has also engaged in significant public-private sector cooperation, notably concluding an AI “smart assistant” experiment in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education and Microsoft. This initiative focused on providing personalised, skill-based education to students, directly linking academic content to the requirements of the future job market.
Stellenbosch University (SU), South Africa
Stellenbosch University is recognised for its strong postgraduate offerings, including an MSc in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. SU also actively researches AI Ethics, ensuring that all machine learning and data science work is paired with clear rules to prevent the technology from causing harm or bias across different communities.
Stellenbosch University hosts the Data and AI Ethics for Africa Public Square, bringing together academics and experts to build a research agenda and develop solutions for ethical issues emerging in African contexts.
African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), Pan-African
The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) established the African Master’s in Machine Intelligence (AMMI), a highly intensive, fully funded one-year graduate program available across its centres (including Rwanda and Senegal). The program was launched in 2018 with the significant support of global tech giants like Facebook (Meta) and Google.
AMMI is focused on preparing well-rounded machine intelligence researchers to meet the present and future needs of the continent. The program hopes to cultivate a new generation of AI practitioners committed to applying their skills to solve challenges in epidemiology, climate science, and data-driven finance, demonstrating an impressive transition rate into employment or further research.
If anything, these universities proved that the continent’s most important innovations won’t come from waiting for technology to arrive, but from building it themselves.
