Africa's leaders, innovators and technologists have been urged to collaborate in developing artificial intelligence that reflects African values and reality to better preserve Africa's indigenous knowledge, cultural beliefs and traditions while benefiting from AI.

Noting that over 60 percent of the continent's population are under the age of 25 years, the Africa Premier AI Conference, APAIC 2025, being held in Mombasa, Kenya, cautioned about the risks of copying in developing AI and emphasized self-innovation and equality in the development of AI on the continent.

"We must lead, not copy. Most AI systems today are built for efficiency, not equity. We need contextual, sovereign, culturally aligned systems," Mary Kerema, Kenya's secretary of information and communications technology, e-government and digital economy, said.

The convention, which brought together ministers, entrepreneurs, youth leaders and international partners, noted that Africa's young population has the potential to lead the AI revolution and shape global standards — not merely being a marketplace for technology.

"To be able to empower the next generation, Africa's digital future should be truly sustainable, shaped by African talent, grounded in African values and elevated through global partnerships and excellence," Kerema said.

She recounted the story of Aisha, a young mother who, despite holding a smartphone in her hand, was forced to spend hours in a crowded government office, waiting in line to register her child's birth on paper.

"That moment reminded me that technology is only powerful when it is accessible, relevant and transforms real lives — especially those who are marginalized.

"Let us be honest about our context. Our data often sit in silos and too many technologies are built elsewhere, for other realities," she said, stressing the need to work with the world's most advanced experts to co-create meaningful solutions.

Harun Katusya, director and chairman of APAIC 2025, said they are targeting critical players such as the private sector, government and intergovernmental actors, international collaborators, research and academic institutions to promote the use of AI more responsibly and design models that adapt to local languages.

"We are architecting Africa-powered intelligence ecosystems that think in Swahili, a common language in East Africa, calculate in Amharic, reason in Yoruba, predict in Arabic and analyze in Zulu," Katusya said during the opening of the four-day conference on Monday.

"For too long, technology has been built elsewhere and imported here detached from our realities, our languages and our aspirations," he stated.

Bill Faruki, founder and CEO of AI company MindHYVE.ai, underlined the need to co-create a pan-African AI vision built with integrity and not dependency.

"Africa does not need to wait to become 'AI-ready'. You already are 'AI-ready'. You have Wi-Fi. You have smartphones. You are using ChatGPT. That means you are not preparing for AI — you are already consuming AI," he said.

According to the AI in sub-Saharan Africa overall report released on Monday, AI adoption has been particularly pronounced in key sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, education and small and medium enterprises.

They, however, face infrastructure constraints, such as poor internet connectivity as lack of electricity hinders the implementation of AI solutions.