As the 2030 deadline for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approaches, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a transformative force for sustainable development. From an Indian perspective, where AI has revolutionised sectors such as agriculture, healthcare and education, there is immense potential to accelerate SDG progress and development in Africa. India’s experience offers a blueprint for scalable, inclusive AI solutions that South Africa’s 2025 G20 presidency can leverage to drive impactful partnerships, fostering innovation and equitable progress across the continent.

India’s AI journey: Lessons for Africa

India today stands out as an ideal model partner for AI-driven development in Africa due to shared socio-economic realities, such as large, diverse populations and resource constraints. These have honed India’s approach to frugal, inclusive innovation, often referred to as jugaad, prioritising affordability and scalability over high-cost infrastructure. With a population of around 1.4 billion people and the diverse challenges that come with it, India has managed to harness AI to address systemic issues at scale, offering replicable models for Africa. In agriculture (SDG 2: Zero Hunger), AI tools like Microsoft’s AI Sowing App and CropIn use satellite imagery and machine learning to boost yields and reduce resource wastage for smallholder farmers. In healthcare (SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being), AI-driven diagnostics, such as Qure.ai’s tools for tuberculosis and retinopathy, enhance access in remote areas under initiatives like Ayushman Bharat. In education (SDG 4: Quality Education), platforms like DIKSHA personalise learning, bridging gaps for rural students. These cost-effective, scalable and inclusive solutions demonstrate AI’s power to democratise access, a principle vital for Africa’s development.

This alignment fosters an equal partnership model, emphasising capacity building, technology transfer and mutual respect. Moreover, India’s digital diplomacy in Africa is rooted in shared development goals, promoting sustainable, long-term institutional ties through initiatives like the India–Africa Forum Summit and digital public infrastructure (DPI) models that are affordable and public-oriented. Moreover, India’s emphasis on open-source AI promotes inclusivity and global collaboration, while its policy-led approach to data accessibility and ethical governance (as outlined in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology 2025 report) addresses biases and privacy in diverse settings similar to the African continent.

Africa, with its 1.4 billion people in 54 nations, faces challenges mirroring those of India, such as poverty, food insecurity, healthcare gaps and climate vulnerability. Yet, its youthful population and growing tech ecosystem present opportunities. Africa’s AI landscape is rapidly evolving, with current initiatives building momentum across the continent while proposed efforts aim to scale inclusively. Presently, AI adoption is concentrated in hubs such as Egypt, Kenya’s Silicon Savannah and Konza Technopolis, Nigeria and South Africa. The AU’s Digital Transformation Strategy underpins continent-wide efforts, with 85% of businesses investing or planning to invest in AI by 2025, and over 83% of Q1 2025 AI startup funding flowing to Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt.

India’s AI-driven models can be adapted to African contexts, such as optimising maize farming in Kenya or deploying AI diagnostics in rural Nigeria. South Africa’s G20 presidency offers a platform to catalyse these efforts, fostering India–Africa collaboration to advance the SDGs based on mutual priorities.

South Africa’s G20 presidency: A catalyst for AI-driven development

South Africa’s 2025 G20 presidency, the first by an African nation, is a historic opportunity to prioritise AI for social impact. As a leader in Africa’s tech ecosystem, South Africa can champion cross-continental partnerships, leveraging India’s expertise to address the continent’s developmental challenges. The G20’s global influence can mobilise resources, foster innovation and ensure that AI serves the needs of the Global South. South Africa’s G20 presidency is already spotlighting AI potential through local initiatives that close digital divides. These include calls for AI talent development via events such as TICAD9 and the AI4D programme, which amplifies African voices in global debates on socio-economic impacts. By aligning with the Digital Transformation Strategy and the Digital India initiative, South Africa can drive policies that enhance digital infrastructure, skills and inclusive AI deployment, accelerating SDG progress.

India and Africa share historical ties through platforms like the India–Africa Forum Summit, which South Africa can amplify by facilitating joint ventures between Indian AI firms  and African startups. Such collaborations can localise AI solutions for African agriculture, healthcare and education, ensuring cultural and contextual relevance.

The G20 platform can also attract funding from institutions like the African Development Bank and India’s EXIM Bank, channelling investments into development-focused AI projects.

Policy recommendations for South Africa’s G20 presidency

To harness AI for SDG acceleration, South Africa’s G20 presidency should prioritise the following policy recommendations.

• Establish an India–Africa AI innovation hub: Create a G20-backed AI innovation hub to foster collaboration between Indian and African startups, researchers and policymakers. This hub, potentially hosted in South Africa, would adapt India’s AI models to African contexts, ensuring solutions address local problems. It would also promote knowledge exchange among other G20 members like Germany or France or even the EU, which are leading this AI transformation. The initiative can be supported by joint funding from G20 partners and African financial institutions.

• Develop an AI skills and capacity-building programme: Launch a G20-supported initiative to train African youth in AI, drawing on India’s IT talent pool and institutions. Building on the Pan-African e-Network Project, this programme would offer online and in-person training in AI development, deployment and ethics, creating a sustainable talent pipeline for SDG-focused innovation across Africa. The G20 platform would also provide access to global models of AI skilling for African youth.

• Promote ethical AI governance frameworks: Advocate for G20-endorsed guidelines ensuring AI solutions are transparent and inclusive and respect data sovereignty. South Africa can collaborate with India’s Ministry of Electronics and IT, the AU and the EU to develop standards that prioritise marginalised communities, prevent algorithmic bias and ensure local ownership of AI systems, mitigating risks of digital divides or neocolonial tech imposition.

• Invest in digital infrastructure for AI adoption: Push for G20 investments in Africa’s digital connectivity, inspired by India’s Digital India model, to enable AI deployment. This includes expanding affordable internet access and digital literacy programmes, particularly in rural areas, to ensure AI tools for agriculture, healthcare and education reach underserved populations.

Challenges and ethical considerations

While promising, AI deployment in general faces various challenges that India has already encountered, including data privacy, algorithmic bias and inequitable access. These issues are particularly acute in Africa, where rapid AI adoption risks exacerbating existing inequalities if proactive measures are not taken. For instance, data privacy concerns arise from the collection of vast datasets for AI training, often without adequate safeguards, leading to potential exploitation or breaches that undermine trust in technology. Algorithmic bias, stemming from datasets that underrepresent African demographics or cultural contexts, can perpetuate discrimination in areas like hiring, lending or healthcare diagnostics, as highlighted in discussions around Ubuntu ethics, which emphasise communal values over individualistic Western frameworks. Inequitable access compounds these challenges, with urban–rural divides and gender gaps limiting AI benefits to a small elite, potentially widening socio-economic disparities and hindering SDG progress in poverty reduction and gender equality.

Africa must avoid a widening urban–rural or gender divide, instead prioritising inclusive design that bring the continent together. South Africa’s G20 presidency, under the theme of ‘Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability’, can address these issues by championing ethical AI frameworks that ensure fairness and cultural sensitivity. Data sovereignty is critical and African nations must retain control over their data to prevent exploitation, aligning with calls for transparency, accountability and human rights in AI deployment. These challenges underscore the urgency of the proposed policy recommendations.

A vision for 2030

South Africa’s G20 presidency offers a pivotal opportunity to harness AI as a transformative force for Africa’s development journey, fostering India–Africa partnerships to drive sustainable progress. From an Indian perspective, AI is a philosophy of empowerment, with scalable, frugal innovations that can be adapted to African contexts. Imagine AI-powered drones delivering vaccines to rural Ethiopia, machine learning optimising solar grids in Senegal or predictive models shielding Zimbabwe’s farmers from climate shocks. By implementing targeted policies such as joint innovation hubs, AI skilling programmes, ethical governance frameworks and digital infrastructure investments, South Africa can ensure inclusive, sustainable solutions.

By uniting India’s AI expertise with Africa’s resilience under the G20’s global framework, this collaboration can reshape sustainable development in Africa, demonstrating AI’s power to tackle urgent challenges and forge an equitable, sustainable future by 2030.