Under South Africa’s 2025 G20 presidency, the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence launched the ‘AI for Africa’ initiative in response to documented capacity gaps across African nations and the G20 member states. The initiative focuses on women’s participation in AI, skills development, access to computing infrastructure, and AI-ready datasets. UNESCO established a Technology Policy Assistance Facility to address the identified gap between rapid AI deployment and governments’ ability to develop consistent regulatory frameworks and train their workforces.
Published by: G20 Task Force on Artificial Intelligence (inter-governmental body); UNESCO (UN agency)
Key finding: The G20 ‘s 2025 AI task force explicitly recognised that most countries lack the public sector capacity, training infrastructure, and digital competencies required for AI governance—and that this gap poses a structural risk to equitable AI deployment.
Context: The creation of capacity-building initiatives reflects an emerging consensus that the knowledge divide between AI-proficient and AI-unaware governments is a material obstacle to inclusive digital development. However, the voluntary nature of these initiatives means that countries experiencing the largest capacity gaps may lack the resources or institutional capacity to participate effectively, widening rather than narrowing the inequality gap.