2020 Government AI Readiness Index: Mauritius highest-ranked African Country

Mauritius has emerged the highest-ranked African country in the Oxford Insights 2020 Government AI Readiness Index, ranking 45th out of 172 countries around the world.

THE THIRD edition of the report — produced by Oxford Insights and commissioned by Canada’s International Research Development Centre (IDRC) — which can be viewed here, seeks to answer how ready governments are to implement AI in the delivery of public services to their citizens.

It draws on 33 indicators across 10 dimensions, namely: digital capacity, adaptability, size, innovation capacity, human capital, data availability, data representativeness, vision, governance and ethics, as well as infrastructure.

A worrying trend identified in the report is how countries in the Global South appear to be lagging behind those in the Global North, with Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and South And Central Asia are among the lowest scoring regions.

“If inequality in government AI readiness translates into inequality in AI implementation, this could entrench economic inequality and leave billions of citizens across the Global South with worse quality public services,” warns the report.

According to the study, in Sub-Saharan Africa only Mauritius has developed and published a national AI strategy, with Kenya classified as being in the process of developing one. South Africa got commendation from the report’s authors for taking steps to set up a Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Rwanda also got a nod for its plans to establish a data protection policy by the end of the year which is expected to indirectly address key AI-related governance issues.

In North Africa, only Egypt — ranked 56th out of 172 countries , and 8th out of 18 countries in the MENA region— has introduced a national AI strategy, with the report singling out Tunisia as also being in the process of developing one.

The highest-ranking African countries in the 2020 Government AI Readiness Index are as follows:

Mauritius (45th)

Egypt (56th)

South Africa (59th)

Seychelles (68th)

Tunisia (69th)

Kenya (71st)

Rwanda (87th)

African countries and Responsible AI

The study also contains a Responsible AI sub-Index which covers 34 countries — including the top 20 countries in the Government AI Readiness Index, together with 14 other countries deemed as regional leaders or rising stars.

The Responsible AI sub-Index measures nine indicators across inclusivity, accountability, transparency and privacy.

Estonia placed 1st with a score of 79.852, in contrast Senegal placed 9th with a score of 66.381, Mauritius was 13th with a score of 64.099, Egypt placed 27th with a score of 45.520, with South Africa placing 29th with a score of 42.699.

Policy barriers

Why are African countries seemingly lagging behind? According to the report as of 2019, only about 10% of the 65 000 tech startups on the continent focused on 4IR technologies like IoT, Big Data and AI. This while only $17,5-million in government and private sector investments in 2019 went to the AI sector.

The study cites infrastructure; inconsistent policy and regulation failures; talent shortages; and data poverty as some of the factors holding African countries back.

“The Index indicates that overall, African countries are relatively better prepared in the Data and Infrastructure pillar, followed by the Government pillar and then the Technology Sector pillar. Within these pillars, countries have or are building more capacity in telecommunications and other infrastructures needed to support AI, and in the availability of representative AI training data. They have less capacity in relation to the size of the technology sector, the business environment and existence of a skilled AI workforce. There is also limited preparation of appropriate regulatory and ethical frameworks; and governments themselves generally have low use of ICTs and low responsiveness to change,” the report points out.

The study does point out however that collaboration through initiatives like the African Union AI Working Group — which met last year in a bid to develop a regional approach to AI — could help countries in the region develop strategies and identify regulatory and governance issues as well as learn from regional best practices.

So, what is Mauritius doing right?

Among other things, the report’s authors commended the island nation of Mauritius for focusing on how AI can support the Ocean economy. The country’s national AI strategy also included the establishment of an AI council.

Mauritius, the report highlights, could also be benefiting from having a mature telecoms market and vibrant tech startup sector which is supported by regulatory sandboxes which encourage innovation and experimentation. The country also has data protection laws that compare with the EU’s GDPR which has become the gold standard of data protection legislation. In addition, as the study points out, the Digital Mauritius 2030 strategy also focuses on cybersecurity. More importantly, the country has invested in an AI skills development programme run through its Human Resources Development Council. This focus on growing talent in the AI sector is further seen by the government providing scholarships for AI-related university courses. ai