One year after its landmark launch, Kenya’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2025–2030 is gaining traction as a blueprint for transforming the country into Africa’s premier hub for AI model innovation, research, and commercialisation all backed by a proposed KSh 152 billion (approximately US$1.17 billion) implementation budget.
Launched on March 27, 2025, at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) by Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communications and the Digital Economy Hon. William Kabogo Gitau, the strategy outlines a citizen-centred, ethical, and inclusive approach to harnessing AI for sustainable development and economic growth.
“The question isn’t whether we shall adopt AI but how we will shape it to keep Kenya future-ready in the global digital economy,” Kabogo said at the launch. “We must harness AI’s potential to drive economic growth. This process must, however, be guided by ethical principles.” He added that while AI will change the nature of work, “it will also create new job spaces” and emphasised equipping the workforce with skills so AI becomes “a catalyst in their operations.”
The strategy is anchored on three core pillars:
AI Digital Infrastructure: Building accessible, affordable, and modernised national digital backbone, including AI-ready data centres, expanded broadband via the National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI), edge computing, and 5G integration. Reports from the launch indicated that 50% of the KSh 152 billion budget is earmarked for this pillar.
Data: Establishing a robust, sustainable, and sovereign data ecosystem with strong governance frameworks, high-quality local datasets, and protections for privacy and security.
AI Research and Innovation Driving the development of localised AI models tailored to Kenyan and African contexts, through R&D hubs, commercialisation, and innovation in key sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, education, security, finance, public service delivery, and creative industries.
These pillars are supported by four cross-cutting enablers: agile governance (including regulatory sandboxes and a “soft” framework to balance innovation with safeguards), talent development and AI literacy, accelerated public-private investments, and a strong focus on ethics, equity, and inclusion to ensure underserved communities benefit and local languages/cultural values are embedded.
The strategy explicitly aligns with the African Union’s Continental AI Strategy and Kenya’s broader National Digital Master Plan 2022–2032 and Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.
Implementation is phased, starting with foundational policy and infrastructure investments. The December 2025 Implementation Roadmap outlines ambitious early milestones for 2025–2026, including construction of the first national AI data centres, nationwide fibre expansion toward 100,000 km by 2030, pilot AI applications in priority sectors, and talent programmes. Targets include 1,450 digital innovation hubs nationwide and three TIA-942-rated AI-capable data centres.
International momentum is building. In December 2025, Kenya stood to benefit from the UAE’s US$1 billion “AI for Development” initiative, targeting digital public infrastructure, agriculture, health, and ethical governance. Partnerships such as Microsoft and G42’s US$1 billion commitment for green AI infrastructure and local-language models further bolster the ecosystem.
While the official strategy document does not itemise the KSh 152 billion figure (reported as the minimum required for full rollout by 2030), the investment is seen as catalytic for job creation, GDP growth, and positioning Kenya as a net exporter of AI solutions.
Analysts note the strategy’s emphasis on data sovereignty and ethical AI distinguishes it in a continent racing to regulate the technology. With regulatory sandboxes and plans for an AI and Emerging Technologies Act, Kenya aims to provide clarity for investors while mitigating risks such as job displacement and bias.
As Phase 1 of implementation advances in 2026, the strategy is already drawing praise for its participatory development involving government, private sector, academia, civil society, and international partners.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has described it as Kenya’s commitment to “take the lead in ethical, inclusive and innovation-driven AI adoption.”
With the digital economy projected to contribute over 30% of GDP by 2030, Kenya’s KSh 152 billion bet on AI is not just a national plan it is a declaration that Africa’s tech future will be written in Nairobi. Progress will be closely watched as the first dedicated AI legislation and major infrastructure projects roll out this year.
