Artificial Intelligence Strategy in the Security Domain Development Seminar

Webinar Series

February 20-21, March 13-14, April 3-4, 2025

English | Français

Information Note
Schedule
Biographies
Africa Center Overview

Webinar 1 • Thursday, February 20, 2025 • 0700–0830

AI Opportunities and Challenges

Presented by:

  • Dr. Chinasa T. Okolo
    Fellow, Center for Technology Innovation, Brookings Institution
  • Dr. Rachel Adams
    Founder, Global Center on AI Governance

Objectives:

  • Provide participants with an understanding of what artificial intelligence is.
  • Identify key ongoing and likely future trends in the diffusion of artificial intelligence.
  • Discuss the broad political, economic, governance, and security challenges posed by the spread of AI.

Artificial intelligence, or the ability of machines to perform human cognitive functions, is rapidly advancing.  AI-powered technologies, from natural language processing algorithms in internet search functions to computer vision in mobile phone cameras, already underlies much of the modern technology we use. Generative AI models, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Dall-E, hint towards a future in which AI substitutes human reasoning and creative pursuits.  The economic, political, and security implications of the spread and advancement of AI are already significant, and likely to become more so. And they vary significantly country by country and region by region.

This opening session of this six-part webinar series will begin with a panoramic discussion of what AI is and the opportunities and challenges it poses for Africa. It will highlight ongoing and promising use cases in fields such as health care, agriculture, finance, and technology. It will consider challenges African countries face in developing AI infrastructure and talent, the potential for AI to deepen inequality, and the ways it is or may be abused or misused. And it will discuss what practical measures African governments can take to harness the benefits and limit the risks stemming from the spread of AI.

Recommended Readings:

Webinar 2 • Friday, February 21, 2025 • 0700–0830

AI-Amplified Security Threats

Presented by:

  • Mr. Abdul Hakeem Ajijola
    Chair, African Union Cyber Experts Group
  • Mr. Baudouin Akoh
    National Liaison and Security Officer

Objectives:

  • Discuss the ways in which artificial intelligence is amplifying threats from criminal groups, armed non-state actors, and nation states.
  • Provide and discuss concrete examples of each of these kinds of threats across various countries and regions in Africa.
  • Analyze how AI is likely to influence Africa’s threat landscape in the future.

AI’s status as an enabling technology – a technology that enables other technologies – means that it is already being used by criminal networks, terrorist organizations, and armed actors across the world. The African continent is no exception. Across the continent, AI has been employed by hackers to target vulnerable information systems. It has been employed by terrorist groups and nation states to help supercharge the spread of disinformation.  Artificial intelligence is even beginning to work its way into drones and other weapons systems, enhancing their precision and potential to do harm.

This session will focus on how AI is amplifying Africa’s security threats and challenges, both now and into the future. It will discuss how criminal groups, hackers, armed non-state actors and nation states are leveraging the use of AI for strategic purposes, and how African states ought to prepare to respond to address the use of AI by these actors.

Recommended Readings:

Webinar 3 • Thursday, March 13, 2025 • 0800–0930

AI Security Strategy Principles and Best Practices

Presented by:

  • Dr. Joel Amegboh
    Assistant Professor of Security Studies, Africa Center for Strategic Studies
  • Dr. Yasmin Afina
    Researcher, Security and Technology Programme, U.N. Institute for Disarment Research.

Objectives:

  • Provide an overview of the basic principles and good practices in the development of national security policy and strategy in Africa.
  • Provide an overview of the emerging principles and good practices in AI defense strategy and policy.
  • Discuss the opportunities and challenges facing the implementation of defense sector AI strategy.

The use of artificial intelligence in the security domain is proliferating faster than efforts to integrate AI into national security policy and strategy.  Principles and good practices for adopting AI into national security strategies are still being debated and elaborated. Relatively few nations have comprehensive AI strategies that are specific to or that incorporate the security and defense sector. African defense and security sectors, with digital architectures and national security priorities that may differ from other regions in the world, face important questions about whether and how to incorporate AI into strategy and policy.

This session will focus on how African governments and security sector actors should approach the integration of AI into their security strategy and policy. It will explore key principles and best practices drawn from broader national security strategies across the continent, considering how these can be adapted and applied specifically to AI. The discussion will emphasize the importance of aligning AI strategies with national security priorities, ensuring that AI technologies contribute to the enhancement of security while respecting local contexts and challenges.

Recommended Readings:

Webinar 4 • Friday, March 14, 2025 • 0800–0930

AI Applications in the Military and Security Domain

Presented by:

  • Dr. Sam Segun, Senior Researcher
    Global Center on AI Governance
  • Dr. Moses Khanyile
    Director, Defense Artificial Intelligence Research Unit (DAIRU), University of Stellenbosch

Objectives:

  • Provide an overview of the ways in which military and security sector actors are likely to employ AI to achieve security objectives.
  • Discuss specific examples of how security forces across the African continent are using AI, such as in intelligence, surveillance, targeting, information operations, and decision-support systems.
  • Discuss current barriers to broader AI adoption and use in African militaries and security forces.

As a general-purpose technology, AI has a wide array of potential uses and use cases within the security domain. It is widely used for both offensive and defensive purposes in the cyber and information domains. At the tactical and operational levels, AI is being used for surveillance, situational awareness, and intelligence gathering purposes. It is beginning to make its way into increasingly automated targeting and decision-support systems.  As these decision processes become increasingly automated, at some point in the future AI may be used to make or inform complex, high-level strategic decision-making. The discussion will highlight cutting-edge AI applications that are enhancing situational awareness, improving operational efficiency, and assisting in complex decision-making.

This session will explore the various ways AI is being utilized in the military and security sectors, both globally and within Africa. It will provide insights into the specific use cases and consider how the use of AI for military defense purposes is likely to evolve in the future along with the technology. Finally, it will assess and discuss challenges faced by African countries in adopting and utilizing AI within their defense and security forces.

Recommended Readings:

Webinar 5 • Thursday, April 3, 2025 • 0800–0930

AI Risks for the Security Sector

Presented by:

  • TBC
  • Mr. Kabir Adamu
    Managing Director, Beacon Consulting

Objectives:

  • Outline a typology of AI risks for security sector actors stemming from issues such as bias, autonomy, poorly trained data, and potential violations of international humanitarian law.
  • Discuss how these risks may affect the employment of AI systems in conflict across Africa.

As with any new and rapidly advancing technology, its use in the security domain is not without risk. As AI systems have become more sophisticated, scholars, technologists and policymakers have grown concerned about the implications of increasingly autonomous weapons systems that lack effective human control or oversight. At a more technical level, data quality issues, brittleness in the face of new circumstances, hallucinations whereby AI systems observe nonexistent outputs, and a lack of understandable reasoning raise the possibility that AI systems used for military purposes may be inaccurate, flawed, or produce unintended consequences. There are ongoing debates about to what extent AI’s use in the military and security domain risk noncompliance with the laws of armed conflict.

This session will address the practical, legal and ethical risks security sectors actors face. The session will define what some of these risks are, map out areas of debate and uncertainty, and identify practices and principles to mitigate risks stemming from the use of artificial intelligence.  It will attempt to contextualize how some of these risks have manifested in Africa, focusing on Nigeria’s employment of drones and other increasingly autonomous weapons systems.

Recommended Readings:

Webinar 6 • Friday, April 4, 2025 • 0800–0930

Regional and International Cooperation on AI in Africa

Presented by:

  • Dr. Giacomo Paoli
    Director, Security and Technology Programme, U.N Institute for Disarmament Research
  • Dr. Barbara Glover
    Program Officer, African Union High Level Panel on Emerging Technologies

Objectives:

  • Outline and take stock of existing efforts to spur international and regional cooperation and confidence in governing artificial intelligence.
  • Discuss the challenges and opportunities of regional and international collaboration on the military dimensions of AI.

Across the world, debates about how, whether, and under what circumstances to govern artificial intelligence in the military and security domain are ongoing. For a little over a decade, formal discussions about whether to regulate autonomous weapons systems have taken place under the auspices of the United Nations Convention on Certain Chemical Weapons. More recently, a series of summits on Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain (REAIM) have sought to broaden the debate to include broader military and security applications of AI. In Africa, debate on the military and security aspects of AI has been limited. Africa was among the first regions of the world to release a Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy, though the strategy does not explicitly address AI’s use for military or security purposes.

The final session will explore the importance of regional and international cooperation in advancing AI in Africa, with a particular focus on building norms and consensus around the military applications of AI. Experts and practitioners will examine global efforts to create agreements on the military use of AI and discuss how Africa can align with these efforts while considering its unique security challenges. The session will also highlight Africa’s Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy and the collaborative efforts necessary for developing AI policies, sharing knowledge, and fostering a unified approach to AI adoption across the continent.

Recommended Readings: