Equiano Institute|Quarterly Briefing
State of AI Diffusion
Who has access to AI's benefits across Africa and LMICs — and what we are doing about the gap.
AI capability keeps rising while access keeps narrowing. Each quarter we track that tension across the continent — adoption data with transparent methods, deep dives on sectors and regions, and the policy decisions deciding who benefits. Written for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners deploying AI in constrained settings.
Access
Who can reach frontier models — pricing, availability, verification, and the export controls that gate them.
Capacity
Infrastructure, skills, and research capability across Africa and LMICs — measured, not assumed.
Governance
The policy frameworks deciding on whose terms AI diffuses, and who has a seat at the table.
Capability Diffusion and Access
As frontier AI gains offensive cyber capability, access to those capabilities becomes increasingly restricted. Cyber capability is reshaping not cybersecurity policy — it is reshaping AI diffusion itself.
Introducing: State of AI Diffusion
A new quarterly newsletter tracking how artificial intelligence is spreading across the African continent and low-to-middle-income countries — who has access, who doesn’t, and what we are doing about it.
Also in this volume
- 022 min read
Global AI Diffusion: What the Data Shows
Adoption gaps, infrastructure bottlenecks, and the widening Global North–South divide — a first look at the numbers behind AI access.
- 033 min read
AI Diffusion in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Unique constraints facing LMICs, early case studies in agriculture and healthcare, and an honest assessment of governance readiness.
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Get State of AI Diffusion each quarter
Data on access and infrastructure, adoption where it matters, and the policy shaping who benefits from AI across the continent.