Five Critical Domains

When an algorithm gets it wrong, who do you turn to?

As AI systems take on a growing role in decisions that affect people's rights — from credit scoring to electoral processes — most Nigerians have no clear path to challenge a decision they believe is wrong. This track examines what accountability looks like in practice: not just naming the problem, but building the tools, institutions, and community-driven mechanisms that let ordinary people contest AI-driven harm.

AI doesn't just reflect bias, it can scale it.

This track confronts a documented reality: AI systems frequently amplify existing gender and social inequalities rather than correct them. Gender penalty in AI credit-scoring is just one data point in a much larger pattern, one playing out in hiring algorithms and healthcare AI across Africa. But this track isn't only about women as AI's beneficiaries or victims; it's equally about women as the researchers, engineers, and governance practitioners building the field.

From strategy to statute: where Nigeria's AI governance actually stands.

Nigeria's National AI Strategy has been published and the E-Governance Bill is moving, but the governance body behind the Strategy remains unestablished, and NITDA's Code of Practice for AI is still unfinished. This track is a working session on the real state of Nigeria's regulatory pipeline: what exists, what's missing, and who's responsible for closing the gap.

Building the research base Africa's AI governance decisions are currently missing.

Global AI safety research is overwhelmingly produced outside Africa, by institutions with limited grounding in African realities — limited data infrastructure, diverse regulatory environments, and distinct societal risk profiles. This track showcases what African-led AI safety research looks like when it's built from the ground up, including original work coming directly out of AISN's own Fellowship.

Africa's seat at the table and what it takes to use it.

Global AI governance forums are being shaped right now, from the African Union's Continental AI Strategy to the UN's Global Dialogue on AI Governance. The question this track asks isn't whether Africa will be affected by these frameworks — it's whether Africa is shaping them, or simply inheriting them.