Image: Esther Abel
This article is adapted from a presentation I delivered in July in collaboration with the Sahan Research and Consulting Center, based in Somaliland. The session engaged education stakeholders, policymakers, and technology leaders in a discussion on the opportunities and risks Artificial Intelligence poses in education in underserved communities.
Read Part One of this series: When AI Goes Wrong in Africa: The Case for a Responsible Framework.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering classrooms in Africa and everywhere else around the world, promising a future of personalized learning, automated assessment, and enhanced efficiency. For Africa, a continent where 60 percent of the population is under age 25, AI presents a monumental opportunity to address long-standing educational challenges, from chronic teacher shortages to a lack of tailored resources. However, deploying these powerful tools requires a careful and considered approach to avoid widening the very divides they are meant to close.
The potential benefits are clear and compelling. AI-powered tools can save teachers 20-40 percent of their time on administrative tasks like grading, freeing them to focus on high-impact mentorship and instruction. For students, intelligent tutoring systems like Khanmigo can provide 24/7 academic support, while adaptive learning platforms analyze individual learning patterns to create customized educational pathways, ensuring no student is left behind. AI tools like Khanmigo provide 24/7 academic support to bridge learning gaps.
As AI integration accelerates, so do the challenges, particularly from an African perspective where context is everything. The most immediate barrier is the digital divide, as limited and costly internet connectivity threatens to make AI-powered tools a luxury for the urban and affluent, potentially leaving rural and low-income students even further behind. This is compounded by serious concerns over data privacy and security, since the vast amounts of student data required for personalization could be left vulnerable without robust data protection laws.
Furthermore, significant ethical concerns and the risk of algorithmic bias arise when AI systems are trained on narrow, non-representative datasets, which can perpetuate and amplify existing inequalities in educational content. Perhaps the most insidious risk is to cultural preservation, where the adoption of generic, Western-centric AI models could erase local languages, histories, and indigenous knowledge systems. Finally, all of these challenges are underpinned by the critical need for teacher training and adoption, as technology is only effective if educators are equipped with the skills and confidence to integrate it into their teaching practices.
Addressing these challenges requires a proactive, multi-faceted strategy focused on equity and cultural relevance. The goal should not be to replace teachers with technology, but to forge a human-AI partnership that empowers educators and enriches the learning experience.
Key steps forward include investing in reliable Internet infrastructure, developing ethical AI frameworks specifically for education, training teachers in AI literacy, and, crucially, fostering the development of culturally responsive AI that incorporates local languages and knowledge. By focusing on these pillars, Africa can harness the transformative power of AI to create a more personalized, inclusive, and effective learning experience for all its students, ensuring that technology serves as a bridge, not a barrier.
For readers who wish to see the full presentation, a video can be found on my Google Drive.
About the Author
Esther Oyiyechi Abel is a 2025 Engineering for Change Fellow, a Mastercard Foundation Scholar, a leader in Artificial Intelligence in Business and a strategic program lead working toward more ethical, inclusive technology. She brings hands-on experience to the global conversation on AI as an AI Acceleration Analyst at Arizona State University (ASU), where she served on the university’s AI Acceleration Team. At ASU she contributed to the ethical evaluation, deployment, and integration of AI tools across enterprise systems within a rigorous ethical framework grounded in principles such as transparency, safety, and fairness.
Ms. Abel has founded two organizations: Opportunities Unlock, which empowers more than 5,000 African youth through free certification courses, webinars, scholarships, and digital skills training; and ShopQnB, an AI company registered in the USA.
