Non-profit think tank and research network Research ICT Africa (RIA) has developed the Just AI Framework of Inquiry.
The contextually-grounded and action-oriented position paper aims to help African policymakers, researchers and technologists navigate the complexities of developing artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
Developed by RIA executive director Pria Chetty and RIA deputy director Dr Araba Sey, as part of the second phase of the Africa Just AI project, the framework responds to the urgent need to ground AI policy in Africa’s historical and contemporary contexts.
As AI technologies proliferate across every sector of society, the Just AI Framework of Inquiry reframes global debates on ethics and fairness by centring justice as the fundamental quality AI systems must embody, according to RIA.
Rather than replicating governance models designed for high-income economies, the framework calls for an approach that reflects Africa’s diverse democratic systems, development priorities and epistemic traditions, it says.
Through nine interrelated inquiries, from structural inequality and data justice, to democratic governance and environmental sustainability, the Just AI Framework of Inquiry equips policymakers, technologists and researchers with the tools to design and evaluate AI systems that actively promote equity, inclusion and care.
“The framework’s justice-oriented lens connects human rights, ecology and economy, guiding both research and regulatory reform to ensure AI advances public interest outcomes. It aims to move beyond aspirational ethics toward actionable mechanisms for embedding justice across the AI value chain,” notes Dr Sey.
The framework provides a holistic and multidisciplinary approach, moving beyond a narrow focus on technological risk to examine the interplay of AI with sustainable development, security, economic policy and governance.
“It recognises that effective AI governance requires a multidisciplinary approach, drawing on expertise in law, data science, economics and social sciences. This is crucial for developing integrated economic policies and governance frameworks that can address the full spectrum of AI’s societal consequences from labour market transformations to the regulation of intellectual property and competition,” Dr Sey adds.
The next phase of this project will test the framework’s application through participatory engagements with policymakers, civil society and research partners.
According to RIA, tech regulation, when developed through a justice-oriented lens, has the potential to unleash the developmental benefits of advanced innovation. Likewise, when AI systems are governed through justice-oriented frameworks, they can deliver equitable outcomes across diverse societies.
Yet, RIA is of the view that the dominant approaches to AI governance today − anchored in ethics, fairness and responsibility − remain inadequate. They are largely self-regulatory, driven by Global North actors, and designed for high-income countries with vastly different social, political and infrastructural realities. RIA’s research shows these frameworks often fail to recognise the uneven socio-economic contexts that shape life across the African continent.
“We have spent the past three years engaging deeply with this challenge: asking what it means to govern AI in ways that are truly just for Africa,” Chetty explains.
“We see a pressing need for a more deliberate and contextualised approach to AI governance; one that allows African countries to shift from being mere consumers of AI tech, to becoming co-creators of AI systems that reflect our development priorities, democratic values and lived experiences.
“Justice in AI requires more than inclusive aspirations. It demands redress of historical harms and inequities, attention to extractive data and value flows, and a commitment to ensuring that AI’s transformative potential is shared, not concentrated.”
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