Cape Town — allAfrica‘s Juanita Williams and Joy Basu, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of African Affairs, overseeing Economics and Regional Affairs across Sub-Saharan Africa, discussed the work of the Digital Transformation With Africa (DTA) project, which is coming up for its two-year anniversary in December 2024, how DTA chooses its partners, and how AI is not a panacea for the challenges the continent faces. Basu is in Cape Town for the Africa Tech Festival, and Williams spoke with her after the U.S. Digital Transformation for Africa side event
<Interview edited for clarity>
In your opening remarks today, you said that the work of the Digital Transformation With Africa project is celebrating its second anniversary this year. So I was hoping you could describe some of the work that’s been done over those two years. What was successful? I know that Botswana was one of the places you had projects.
Yes, I’m happy, too. So DTA is the digital transformation with Africa, and it was an initiative that President Biden launched at the US Africa Leaders Summit in December of 2022 and I will just maybe summarize its three pillars. The first is to really look at physical infrastructure. We know that’s so important. You know, we think about digital as virtual, but virtual only, you know, relies on infrastructure. And for me, this one is so important because we know the ways in which Africa has an infrastructure gap in all sectors, but we don’t want that to continue to be something that holds African entrepreneurs and African consumers back from this new sector of digital.
The second pillar focuses on what I think of as Africa’s greatest asset, which is its human capital. And so how do you really make sure that we’re investing in the skilling and that talent, to make sure that all the African youth, but also every generation, is able to seize the opportunities of a digital future.
And third, how does that come together in the right enabling environment? What’s the role of government in creating policies that spur innovation but also create a level playing field. The one thing I think I’ve appreciated is a decentralized approach to finding projects that are organic across the continent, that are looking for funding that meet these three needs, and thinking, Okay, how do we get the right capital to that?
It’s been less of us saying this is what should be created. It’s been more of us saying this is what Africans are creating. This is what they want. This is where our funding can go to support African-led initiatives. I cited the D Lab in Tanzania, which is an initiative that’s existed, that has, you know, is a completely African-led solution, and a little bit of our capital, I think was able to really unlock much there. How can this initiative be new and not just recreating something that exists? Or, you know, how can this, if we’re going to work on DTA, how can it be the most impactful?
How do we find things that are happening on the continent that fit these three pillars, and how do we also organize ourselves to make sure that we as a government are doing this efficiently and using our taxpayer money to be effective with the little that we know, the little we have.
So that’s a lot of what I’ve been proud of over the last two years, and I hope that those impacts on the continent continue to grow.
You choose projects that already exist. How do you choose them? And where the countries don’t have any, do you initiate projects as well?
Yes, so it’s a little bit of both. I think one thing that, since I’m coming from the State Department, I will share, you know, this view, but maybe there’s a little bit of bias. Our embassies and our consulates around the continent are our front line. And what I love about that is, you know, they are across the continent. There are in these communities. We have, you know, our colleagues from the State Department, from USAID, from USTDA, from commerce, engaged in the communities. And so they’re the ones who meet, you know, a great non-profit that has a good idea. They’re the ones who meet a company that’s looking, you know, to source something. They’re the ones who interact with the government officials who know, oh, this government official is trying to do this new project. And so I am so grateful for our frontline of the US government, which you see all over Africa, and they’re just incredible, talented public officials who are here because they want to co-create those solutions. But also, as you say, sometimes, you know, we have to say, maybe there’s not an idea that exists, but you’ve seen it in a different country next door, and so that’s where the rotation of our officials across the continent … they say, oh, you know, ‘I was working in Kenya or Uganda or Ethiopia, and this project was really effective. I wonder if I could ask to bring that idea here.’
It’s also why conferences like this (Africa Tech Festival being held in Cape Town, South Africa from November 12 to 14) are so powerful. But it’s where you get to share and co-create ideas, and you have people from around the continent here to say: This is what worked. Would it work there? Or I hadn’t thought about it that way.
And so that’s why a lot of DTA funding goes to these kind of convening spaces – to make sure that those ideas are being shared.
One of the talking points that was mentioned was the responsible use of AI and the conference in Nigeria, what was the outcome of that? Actually, what I’d first like to ask is, what is responsible use of AI, just your understanding of that, and then what was the major outcomes from the conference in Nigeria?
Yes, it was so exciting to be in Nigeria. It was in the middle of September. We co-hosted this. And what made me most proud is us having this conference. The United States does not have the answers to AI. We need to find these answers together with our African partners with the world. And I feel that, you know, we need to make sure that African voices are at that table, that they are leading at that table. So for me, one of the main goals of that was to make sure that as this industry develops, we’re being very intentional of bringing in all these voices again.
There are so many ways in which AI can amplify the biases that exist systemically, historically around the world and the United States, hopes for facilitating an AI that actually collapses those biases, that helps to bring more voices to the table and mitigate those, but in order to do that, you need to have diverse voices at the table. That was one of the main goals of having the conference here was to think about how to be most inclusive in both seizing the opportunities of AI.
So how do you apply AI to the sustainable development goals? We had particular conversations on agriculture, on healthcare, on education. You know, how can AI be used to accelerate our progress towards those, but also talking about some of the risks that go in with AI, whether that comes through disinformation, which we already see happening, whether that comes through, you know, digital fakes, whether that comes through threats to, you know, children who might not be exposed.
And so for me, the conversation was just beginning in Nigeria, but it was one that was beginning with our African partners to make sure their ideas, their solutions, their concerns, are an active part of the global conversation.
I’m jumping forward to that because your panel is on AI on the first day of Africa Tech festival (November 12). And so I was hoping to get a preview of what you what you’ll be discussing… 
In this last question, I didn’t quite answer you about what does it means to kind of be safe, secure, trustworthy, responsible. What is responsible? And I think about it is safe, secure, trustworthy. So safe is essentially thinking about how do we make sure that the data is that’s coming in has the right cyber security elements to it?
How do we make sure, especially as more and more of our identities, you know, if our content goes online, that we have the right safe, secure kind of parameters when it comes to secure you know, how do you make sure, once it’s there, that it’s not being abused and trustworthy?
How do you think about the right data that goes into that? How do you make sure that you have the right sources?
Because, as with any decision we make, right the quality of what goes in dictates the quality of what comes out. And so I think again, that goes That’s particularly important in the African context, to make sure that African data is being used, that African local languages are being used, because if our future is really going to be shaped by the digital world, we need to make sure that those are applicable to African solutions.
And so a lot of what I’ll talk about tomorrow (November 12) is are we being inclusive, and are we creating what we think of in the US is a rights-respecting AI. So how do we still think about human rights in this context? How do we still make sure that the norms we’ve created in the physical world translate and that we don’t kind of lose the progress we’ve made from the human rights perspective that we actually think deliberately, but that we’re also not so over regulating, that we can’t have innovation. And because we know that governments won’t have the solutions for AI, it will be innovators. It will be entrepreneurs. So how do we create that right framework? I hope majority of what I talk about will be positive and opportunity-seeking, but also we need to have the right protections, and that’s the balance that we’re trying to strike.
I mean, I find it interesting that we speak about governance when of AI, when we haven’t really quite sorted out governance of the Internet yet. The continent as you mentioned … the infrastructure just isn’t there for some of the advanced technology that we want to use. And so where do we sit in terms of governance like, so what would governance for AI actually mean, when it didn’t really, I wouldn’t want to say, take on the Internet, but it’s just like the Wild West, honestly. What are your thoughts on on AI, governance, and you said that it needs to be with the African people, and it’s not necessarily going to be the purview of only the government. But, I mean, what are your thoughts about the government governing AI?
I think one thing that’s been really interesting to me on this conversation of AI that I often get asked is: Is Africa ready? You know, is this really the right priority? And I think it has to be, you know, we have to solve this. We don’t have the luxury of waiting. We have to solve all of these challenges together. Yes, we need to find sources of energy that both meet people with basic needs and that can fuel AI. When it comes to governance, I think about one important role of the government is education and the public good.
So what is the role of of government in making sure populations have the information they need. What is the role of government in making sure that we’ve identified behaviors that we don’t want and what bad actors are, and that we have the ways of identifying them and making sure they don’t do harm? So you’re right that, you know, sometimes I wish we could kind of solve problem A before we get to problem B, but that’s not the reality we live in.
But some of these principles still exist. So how do we make sure our workforce is educated? How do we make sure our workforce can seize these opportunities? How do we make sure we know some of the signs of what AI going wrong will be, so that when it happens, those government tools are ready to make sure that we’re protecting our citizens. But you’re right. This is a conversation that we’ll continue to have, so I’m glad we’ve gotten it started.
(Basu was on the ATF’s Keynote Panel: Seizing the AI Opportunity: A New Phase of Business Transformation and Workforce Evolution)
The private sector involvement in digital infrastructure was also mentioned in your session this morning (November 12). How closely do you want to work with the private sector?
I would say as much as they are willing to invest because we will need their innovation, their investment. And so I really see this as as being something that the private sector, the public sector and civil society non-profits need to be working hand in hand, and the role of the private sector will vary in context, but I think they need to be leaning forward as much as they are willing, and governments need to be leaning forward as well with them to understand what opportunities they bring. And in each context, whether that’s the local government or at the state government, or, you know, at the AU and the continental level, what are the roles and responsibilities that governments want to take. But also, where can the private sector do more to both create those opportunities, but also to deliver that capital that we need, there will be some infrastructure that is built, you know, by the public, and that it’s great, and there’s many that will need the private sector to lean forward. So for me, that answer is all in but obviously doing so in close dialogue with governments and and in close dialogue with civil society.
And then also from the session this morning. What was your takeaway from Panel 1? Because that was the only one open to journalists. So what was your main takeaway from Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Middle East and Africa Thomas Bruns’ panel?
Yes, yes, really focused on physical infrastructure. This tailors well with the question you just asked, especially on the continent, but all around the world, we need the private sector to be leaning forward on infrastructure, and so we need the government to be thinking about what are the models that will help the companies, you know, build inclusively. And so one thing we talked about a lot was sometimes the use case for infrastructure in an urban area is very strong because you have a lot of people there. And so the profitability is less risky. But we don’t want to create, divides in our society where people in rural communities don’t have access.
And so how do public companies incent private companies to be building that in more rural areas to make sure this is inclusive? How do we make sure that we are skilling people who might otherwise be left out, whether that’s by gender or by socioeconomic status. And so for me, the main takeaway of that first panel was, how do we make sure we’re having a transparent dialog as to what our economic and social development goals are, for communities, for countries, for the continent, and how do we make sure that we’re using the assets that we have, whether that’s philanthropic money, private sector money, to really make sure we’re creating that but again, we have to do that together. And so for me, the main takeaway was having that dialog.
For me this final question, AI for health, education, climate, food security, and energy. Those are the main issues, also just issues that are global, but particularly on the continent. Climate issues are a really big one, and it’s visible for us, for the flooding.
But here it’s been particularly, I mean, in East Africa, the flooding, constant flooding, the drought in Zambia and Malawi…
Either flooding or it’s drought. It’s flooding from the drought. And so when it comes to AI and using it for these global issues and African issues as well. How do you think AI would be involved in dealing with some of those issues? Because, well, like I said, specifically climate, because I think it affects, well, everything. Climate is affecting health. Climate is affecting education because there are more children that are not going to school. So where does AI fit into all of that?
Yeah, I think this is an appropriate question to be asking, because COP29 is about to start, obviously. And so I hope this is a conversation that’s also happening there. You know, for me, I think these challenges are so prominent that we need all the solutions on the table that we can have. And so, yes, you know, AI might not be the solution for all, and I don’t want to pretend it will be … it will not be a panacea. We need to often go to solutions that we know that might be less digital, less technology-oriented. They’re more basic.
However, we can’t these problems, to your point, are so urgent, we can’t ignore the possibility of AI helping, if it can. And so I’d ask us to keep all solutions on the table, whether those are more traditional, analog solutions. You know that we know that we need to build resilience and adaptivity, adaptivity in communities and mitigation, or whether they, you know, are more innovative and leapfrog solutions. So, you know, maybe I’ll give you two examples for your climate question.
In particular, I think one thing to think about is, how can climate help us predict what it was going to happen where more quickly, so that we can have communities be prepared, and that we can also have them have the right kind of infrastructure and equipment, not just for something that might happen, you know, in an early warning system in a few weeks, but in a few years.
How do we think about how climate will affect the world and this continent so we can be ahead, and how do we use those models to help us understand that? But I would also say you gave the example of the way that climate is linked to health. One reason that data is so important and African data is so important, is how do we make sure. So we can use AI to diagnose things more quickly.
So we know that we need that African health workforce to be incredible. We need more people, but if you have, you know, a dearth or a lack of nurses and doctors in a certain area, how can AI kind of empower them to understand diseases that they’re seeing more quickly, especially as those diseases kind of spread more because of climate and so again, I am not pretending. I’m a very traditionalist person that I know that you know some of these solutions that we need, whether it’s an agriculture or health. We’ve known these answers in our communities for decades, and we need to keep applying those. But if AI can help, we should bring … we should be open-minded to that, we shouldn’t turn to it as a panacea. But as you said, you know these challenges are so great, and for me, you know the opportunities for the African people are so tremendous that I don’t want anything to be left off the table, if it can help people seize and captain their destinies.
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Thank you. Is there something that you want to share now that my final question is answered?
I appreciate that. I would just share two things. One, I would share that I mean it very sincerely when I say that we are here to find the solutions and conversation together, especially with technology. We know this is a place where Africans and African entrepreneurship and African innovation has led the world. And I truly believe that we need that, that those African solutions and that African leadership, if the world will meet these challenges, it’s not the US coming here, bringing our solutions to Africa. My goal is really, how do we bring African solutions to the world, and how do we make sure those voices are there?
So that’s on the content, something very separate, and this is kind of more for you. Thank you for the work you do as a journalist. Because, you know, journalism is a critical part of a democracy, and so thank you for everything you do, to keep people informed and to hold kind of leaders accountable. We can’t kind of work as a society without that, and so it goes unsaid, but thank you for the work you do.
Thank you. I don’t think I’ve ever had someone thank me before.
No, it’s critical and it’s a public service you do. Today is Veterans’ Day, and people saying thank you for your service to veterans. And yet, service comes in so many forms, including, I think, as a journalist. So thank you. Thank you. I appreciate your time.
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