Who shapes the AI conversation?
As AI becomes central to public debate, policy, and investment, it is important to understand how these technologies are framed in regions where many people are primarily users and adopters, rather than creators, of the systems shaping their digital futures. The report asks: Who shapes the AI agenda? Which narratives dominate? How do global technology narratives travel into African digital ecosystems? And are African AI discussions driven by technology companies, or by journalists, governments, civil society, researchers and local communities?
Insights from six months of X data
The report draws on conversations from X, formerly Twitter, between July and December 2025. It uses a multi-stage methodology combining newsroom analysis, social media actor mapping and lexicon-based discourse tracing to examine how AI narratives circulate between global technology actors and African digital ecosystems.
The findings show that global AI discourse is often centered on model performance, infrastructure and investment, while African discussions focus more on access, skills, governance, affordability and adoption. Media organizations play a major role in shaping visibility across African contexts, while technology developers, researchers, civil society actors and government institutions contribute different perspectives on how AI should be used and governed.
The report highlights a central question for the future: whether African AI ecosystems will be shaped by local needs, ownership and accountability, or by external technologies and narratives that travel faster than regulatory frameworks.
Dhara Mungra is an NYU-educated data scientist with four years of experience at a leading audience analytics firm and research experience with top AI researchers at Anthropic, she translates business and product needs into technical specifications and oversees product development in the space of information integrity at SimPPL. She was selected as a research group member at the Center for AI and Digital Policy and contributed to the 2026 CAIDP Index through a country-level assessment of Malta’s AI policy. She was also part of the 2025 Global Changemakers Summit, where she collaborated with international leaders to prototype scalable solutions for marginalized communities. She is currently teaching a course on AI product development at the University of Mannheim in Germany, focusing on practical industry applications and ethical design principles.
