“This house believes that AI will undermine Africa’s indigenous knowledge more effectively than colonialism ever did.”
That was the motion of the debate at the 18th eLearning Africa Conference, 2025 that took place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
It is an unfortunate motion which, perpetuates the old-time African problem of never taking responsibility for their colonial woes.
AI is not the problem. The real issue is how Africa chooses to use — or not use — it. Blaming AI is like blaming a knife for how it’s used. The real danger is in our failure to take control of it.
Colonialism was a system that deliberately destroyed and replaced our knowledge. AI is just a tool. It can help us preserve, share, and even grow our indigenous knowledge — if we take ownership of it.
What will truly undermine our culture and knowledge is our inaction—not learning how AI works, not building our own technologies, not training our people. If Africa keeps waiting for others to do it for us, we will lose by default.
So instead of blaming AI, we should look at ourselves. Are we investing in local languages? In digital skills? In African-led innovation? If not, that’s the real problem —not the technology.
We must stop casting blame and start building. Because the future of our knowledge is in our hands, not in the machines.
