1、 Leading,not lagging:Africas gen AI opportunityGen AI is set to create significant value across sectors,and Africa has an opportunity to leapfrog other regions to capitalize on this transformative technology.May 2025 Getty Imagesby Mayowa Kuyoro and Umar Bagus with Anass Benshrir and Ziyaad BobatThe

2、 rapid rise of gen AI has captured the worlds imagination and accelerated the integration of AI into the global economy and the lives of people across the world.Gen AI heralds a step change in productivity.As institutions apply AI in novel ways,beyond the advanced analytics and machine learning(ML)a

3、pplications of the past ten years,the global economy could increase significantly,improving the lives and livelihoods of millions.1 Nowhere is this truer than in Africa,a continent that has already demonstrated its ability to use technology to leapfrog traditional development pathways;for example,mo

4、bile technology overcoming the fixed-line internet gap,mobile payments in Kenya,and numerous African institutions making the leap to cloud faster than their peers in developed markets.2 Africa has been quick on the uptake with gen AI,too,with many unique and ingenious applications and deployments we

5、ll underway.1“The economic potential of generative AI:The next productivity frontier,”McKinsey,June 14,2023.2Sven Blumberg,Jean-Claude Gelle,and Isabelle Tamburro,“Africas leap ahead into cloud:Opportunities and barriers,”McKinsey,January 18,2024.Across McKinseys client service work in Africa,many i

6、nstitutions have tested and deployed AI solutions.Our research has found that more than 40 percent of institutions have either started to experiment with gen AI or have already implemented significant solutions(see sidebar“About the research inputs”).However,the continent has so far only scratched t