Regulating Artificial Intelligence in Africa: A Comparative Legal Analysis of Regulatory Frameworks and Governance Approaches

Artificial intelligence is being deployed across African economies faster than the law has adapted to govern it. This article undertakes a doctrinal and comparative analysis of the legal frameworks through which the African Union and five national jurisdictions (Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda and Egypt) regulate AI, using the EU AI Act, the Council of Europe Framework Convention and the OECD and UNESCO instruments as reference points. Its objectives are to map the approaches adopted, assess how they address the core legal problems raised by AI, and determine how much they borrow from external models. It finds that African AI governance is strategy-rich and statute-poor: every jurisdiction studied has an AI strategy or policy, but none had a comprehensive AI statute confirmed in force by October 2026. Data protection law serves as the de facto law of AI, and recent decisions, including the Kenyan High Court's Worldcoin judgment and the Nigerian tribunal ruling upholding a US$220 million penalty against Meta, show it can be enforced vigorously. Liability, algorithmic discrimination and the explainability of automated decisions are nonetheless addressed only incidentally, and draft legislation in Nigeria and Kenya transplants the EU's risk-based architecture without the institutional infrastructure that supports it. The article also identifies an emerging problem of AI-generated falsehoods within legal and governmental institutions, illustrated by South African court decisions on fictitious citations and the withdrawal of the country's draft national AI policy. It proposes a staged, capacity-sensitive legislative approach and specific reforms on liability, discrimination, administrative justice, collective data interests and the verification of AI-generated material. These findings suggest that effective AI governance in Africa will depend less on the breadth of new statutes than on obligations that existing institutions can credibly enforce.

artificial intelligence regulation, AI governance, data protection, comparative law, legal transplants

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