Panel Discussion: 01

19 Feb 2026 10:00h - 10:30h

Session at a glance

Summary

This ministerial conversation at the AI Impact Summit featured three government leaders from Global South countries discussing how artificial intelligence can create meaningful impact in developing nations. The panel included Minister Cina Lawson from Togo’s Digital Transformation Ministry, Vice Minister Nizar Patria from Indonesia’s Communications Ministry, and Minister Raafat Hindi from Egypt’s Communications Ministry, moderated by Debjani Ghosh from India’s Niti Aayog.

When asked to rate global progress on AI infrastructure creating impact, Minister Patria gave the world a 6 out of 10, citing significant digital gaps in Global South countries despite widespread AI adoption. He emphasized the need for “meaningful connectivity” that leverages AI to benefit people, particularly challenging in Indonesia’s 17,000-island archipelago. Minister Lawson agreed but noted that when AI is properly implemented to solve local problems, the impact can reach 9 out of 10, advocating for focus on priority sectors like health, education, and agriculture.

The ministers shared compelling examples of AI impact in their countries. Egypt uses AI for early breast cancer detection and diabetes screening, expanding advanced medical services to underserved communities. Indonesia developed AI tools helping remote doctors diagnose tuberculosis using simple programs combined with X-ray machines. Togo’s standout example involved using AI algorithms during the pandemic to identify and prioritize cash aid recipients, combining satellite imagery for poverty mapping with telecom metadata analysis.

The discussion identified key roadblocks to scaling AI impact, including infrastructure gaps, institutional capacity limitations, and the need for AI in local languages. Minister Lawson highlighted that Togo has 42 languages and dialects, emphasizing that massive AI adoption requires local language support. The ministers agreed that success should be measured not by model size or compute power, but by how many people gain access to quality AI-enabled services, with trust, accessibility, and problem-solving capability as essential criteria for the next five years.

Keypoints

Major Discussion Points:

– Infrastructure and Digital Divide Challenges: The panelists discussed how Global South countries face significant gaps in digital infrastructure, with Indonesia’s Vice Minister noting only 80% internet penetration across 17,000 islands, and African countries having less than 1% of global AI talent. The focus was on achieving “meaningful connectivity” rather than just basic access.

– AI Impact in Essential Public Services: All three ministers shared concrete examples of AI creating real-world impact in healthcare, education, and government services – from Indonesia’s tuberculosis detection system for remote doctors, to Egypt’s breast cancer screening tools, to Togo’s AI-powered financial aid distribution during the pandemic.

– Local Language and Cultural Adaptation: A critical barrier identified was the need for AI systems to work in local languages and dialects. Minister Lawson highlighted Togo’s 42 languages and dialects as an example, emphasizing that mass AI adoption requires models that can serve people in their native languages.

– Institutional Capacity and Knowledge Gaps: The discussion revealed that even when AI technology is available, many government officials and citizens don’t understand what AI can do or how to leverage it effectively. This creates a need for extensive training and outreach within government institutions.

– Redefining AI Success Metrics: The panelists unanimously agreed that AI success should be measured not by the size of models or compute power, but by the percentage of people who have access to high-quality AI-enabled services and how many lives are actually improved.

Overall Purpose:

The discussion aimed to explore how Global South countries are adopting artificial intelligence, share successful impact stories, identify common challenges, and establish a framework for measuring AI success that prioritizes human benefit over technological metrics. The conversation was part of the first-ever AI Summit held in a Global South country, emphasizing the “AI for all” philosophy.

Overall Tone:

The discussion maintained a consistently collaborative and optimistic tone throughout. The panelists were pragmatic about challenges while remaining enthusiastic about AI’s potential. There was a strong sense of solidarity among the Global South representatives, with each building upon others’ points rather than disagreeing. The tone was solution-oriented, focusing on practical applications and shared experiences rather than theoretical debates, and concluded with a unified vision for inclusive, trustworthy AI development.

Speakers

– Raafat Hindi – Minister of Communications, Egypt

– Nizar Patria – Vice Minister of Communications, Indonesia

– Cina Lawson – Minister of Digital Transformation, Togo

– Moderator – Event moderator/host (role: introducing speakers and facilitating the event)

– Debjani Ghosh – Distinguished Fellow, Niti Aayog (role: moderating the ministerial conversation)

Additional speakers:

None – all speakers who participated in the discussion were included in the provided speakers names list.

Full session report

This ministerial conversation at the AI Impact Summit brought together three prominent government leaders from Global South countries to examine how artificial intelligence can create meaningful transformation in developing nations. The panel featured Minister Cina Lawson from Togo’s Digital Transformation Ministry, Vice Minister Nizar Patria from Indonesia’s Communications Ministry, and Minister Raafat Hindi from Egypt’s Communications Ministry, with moderation by Debjani Ghosh from India’s Niti Aayog. The discussion embodied the “AI for all” philosophy, emphasising that technological advancement must reach every corner of the world to create genuine global impact.

Assessing Global AI Progress and Infrastructure Challenges

When asked to rate global AI infrastructure progress on a scale of one to ten, Minister Patria gave it 6 out of 10, highlighting the fundamental challenge facing Global South countries: the digital divide. His assessment was grounded in Indonesia’s unique reality as an archipelago country with 17,000 islands and five big islands, where achieving universal connectivity presents extraordinary logistical challenges among its 250 million people.

Minister Patria introduced the crucial concept of “meaningful connectivity,” which transcends basic internet access to encompass purposeful technology deployment that genuinely benefits citizens. With Indonesia’s internet penetration reaching 80%, the focus has shifted from simply providing connectivity to ensuring that emerging technologies like artificial intelligence deliver tangible value to people’s lives.

Minister Lawson offered a nuanced perspective, noting that whilst Africa represents less than 1% of global AI talent and many countries lack connected schools and hospitals, successful AI implementations can achieve significant impact. She emphasized that the African Union’s strategic position allows focus on real-life use cases rather than theoretical applications, prioritising government infrastructure, health, education, and agriculture as transformational sectors.

Concrete Examples of AI Impact in Public Services

The ministers shared compelling examples of how AI is already creating substantial impact in their respective countries, demonstrating meaningful progress despite infrastructure limitations.

Egypt’s experience showcased AI’s potential to democratise access to essential services. Minister Hindi described how AI tools for early breast cancer detection and diabetes screening have expanded advanced medical services beyond elite institutions in major cities to reach underserved communities nationwide. Additionally, Egypt has launched AI-powered educational support tools for high school students and teachers across the country. These achievements were made possible through a government-first approach prioritising public interest, the development of sovereign AI capabilities reflecting local language and cultural needs, and strong partnerships between government, national AI ecosystems, and global partners.

Indonesia’s tuberculosis detection system exemplified how AI can address critical healthcare challenges in remote areas. Minister Patria explained how AI innovation hubs support startup development, creating diagnostic tools that help doctors in remote locations identify tuberculosis using programmes combined with X-ray machines. This solution addresses the significant challenge of limited access to sophisticated medical equipment in remote areas by leveraging big data from health centres and machine learning algorithms.

Togo’s pandemic response provided a comprehensive example of AI’s transformational potential in government services. During COVID-19, Minister Lawson’s team developed an innovative approach to financial aid distribution using AI algorithms applied to satellite imagery to create a poverty map of Togo, and machine learning with telecom metadata to identify phone numbers of people most in need. This system enabled efficient cash distribution via mobile phones whilst ensuring resources reached those who needed them most. The success led to establishing a permanent 25-person data science team within the Ministry of Public Sector Efficiency, which now supports other government branches including the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Environment in improving policy development through AI-driven insights, with partnerships including Berkeley.

Identifying Implementation Barriers and Success Metrics

The discussion revealed several critical barriers to scaling AI impact. Minister Lawson identified institutional capacity as a major challenge, explaining that many government officials and citizens simply don’t know that AI applications exist or understand which questions to ask. To address this, Togo has implemented extensive outreach programmes within government, with the data science team actively engaging other ministries to demonstrate AI applications.

Minister Patria highlighted additional systemic barriers, particularly geopolitical dynamics creating asymmetric conditions between Global South and Global North countries. He emphasized concerns about platformization and dominance of the platform, which create dependencies that can limit fair AI ecosystem development in developing nations. He stressed the importance of balanced regulation that protects citizens whilst fostering innovation.

The Critical Importance of Local Language and Cultural Adaptation

Minister Lawson highlighted that Togo has 42 languages and dialects, whilst current AI systems primarily operate in French or English. This linguistic barrier represents a fundamental obstacle to mass AI adoption. She envisioned a world where every school child has an AI tutor capable of explaining mathematics and science in local languages and dialects, representing AI’s transformational power when properly adapted to local contexts.

Minister Hindi reinforced this perspective by emphasising the need for sovereign AI capabilities that reflect local language and cultural needs, recognizing that AI systems developed primarily for Western contexts may not adequately serve diverse global populations.

Redefining Success Metrics for People-Centred AI

The most significant consensus to emerge was unanimous agreement that AI success should be measured by human impact rather than technical specifications. Minister Hindi articulated this clearly, arguing that success should be measured by “the percentage of people that have access to high quality AI enabled services” rather than “the number of models” or “the compute” power available. He provided three specific reasons why this metric matters: it shifts focus from technology to people, exposes rather than hides global gaps, and frames AI as a development tool.

Minister Patria added three essential criteria for AI success: it must be “accessible,” “must solve the problem,” and “need to be trusted.” The emphasis on trust is particularly important given growing public awareness of AI’s potential for misuse, including deepfakes and synthetic reality.

Minister Lawson provided a concrete vision of success: “If five years from now, every Togolese is one phone call away to access any public services.” This vision encapsulates AI’s transformational potential when properly implemented, moving beyond traditional digital transformation towards truly interactive, accessible government services.

Building Collaborative Frameworks

The conversation emphasized the need for international collaboration and knowledge sharing. Minister Lawson highlighted the importance of standards and platforms for data exchange in relationships with the global north, moving towards more equitable partnerships that recognize innovation emerging from developing nations.

The discussion also highlighted Africa’s demographic opportunity, with Minister Lawson noting that 50% of Africa’s population is under 18 years old and 75% under 35, creating enormous potential for AI to shape educational and economic opportunities for an entire generation.

Conclusion

This ministerial conversation demonstrated that meaningful AI impact is already being created across diverse Global South contexts, from Indonesia’s archipelagic challenges to Togo’s linguistic diversity to Egypt’s regional leadership. The ministers collectively articulated a vision of AI development that prioritises human flourishing over technological supremacy, with consensus around people-centred success metrics, the importance of trust and cultural adaptation, and the need for balanced approaches to regulation and innovation.

Their emphasis on meaningful connectivity, institutional capacity building, and collaborative innovation provides a roadmap for ensuring that AI’s benefits reach every corner of the world, fulfilling the promise of “AI for all” through development approaches that solve real problems and serve diverse populations in culturally appropriate ways.

Session transcript

Moderator

Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to introduce the speakers for a ministerial conversation. The speakers in this fireside conversation is Her Excellency Cina Lawson, Minister of Digital Transformation, Togo. His Excellency Nizar Patria, Vice Minister of Communications, Indonesia. His Excellency Raafat Hindi, Minister of Communications, Egypt. Minister Lawson has made Togo one of Africa’s most watched digital transformation stories, building mobile first government services that reach citizens who were previously entirely excluded from the formal economy. Her work is a reminder that AI’s greatest opportunities may lie in the global south. Her work is a reminder that AI’s greatest opportunities may lie in the global south. minister patria representing the world’s fourth most populous nation and one of southeast asia’s fastest growing digital economies his excellency is navigating the complex challenge of building ai policy for a country of 270 million people spread across 17 000 islands egypt is positioning itself as an ai hub for the arab world and africa and minister hindi is leading that change with a young population and growing digital infrastructure egypt’s ambitions are both compelling and instructive for developing nations navigating the ai transition ladies and gentlemen i would like to invite our speakers please with a big round of applause i would like to request you to please welcome the minister from Togo, from Indonesia and also from Egypt.

I request our honorable dignitaries to kindly take your place on this stage and this conversation is being moderated by Ms. Debjani Ghosh distinguished fellow Niti Aayog, I request Ms. Debjani Ghosh to kindly join us AI Summit is a place where everybody looks forward to such ministerial conversations and this is one such conversation that everybody is looking forward to because when we say that this is the first ever AI Summit which is being organized in a country of global south, it makes a difference and here we have very elite panel with us. Her Excellency Cina Lawson, Minister of Digital Transformation, Togo is going to join us. His Excellency Nizar Patria, Vice Minister of Communications, Indonesia. His Excellency Raafat Hindi, Minister of Communications, Egypt.

We are expecting our other guests to join us very soon as Ms. Devjani Khosh, Distinguished Fellow Niti Aayog is going to moderate this conversation. And this will also give us an insight into the countries of Global South, how they are adopting artificial intelligence, what are the challenges before them, and how the world has to come together. This global cooperation is needed so that nobody is left out of the touch of artificial intelligence, the benefits of artificial intelligence. And that’s when Honorable Prime Minister says it’s AI for all. This is what we mean, that it should reach each and every person. Of the continent, of the world, and AI should bring a change into the people of global.

South too. Only then we can say that we are going, moving ahead in the right direction. So keeping that in mind, ladies and gentlemen, this ministerial conversation is going to be of utmost importance when we talk of AI Impact Summit, because this conversation will also bring to the fore those points on the basis of which we can say that AI is making an impact into the lives of people, especially the people of Global South. And when we talk of the challenges, the difficulties which face Indians, our countrymen, that is the time when we can say that if you are able to find low -cost AI solutions to our problems, they will also be the solutions which can be adopted very, very easily by the other countries of the Global South.

So here we are bringing to you this ministerial conversation. Our guests are here. And this elite panel from these countries, from Congo, Egypt, and Indonesia, will bring before us those issues that are of utmost importance to the lives of people, especially the people those aspects on which they’ve already been. working, the challenges which they think they need cooperation from other countries as well, if they want to counter these challenges. Because when you talk of Global South, ladies and gentlemen, unless Global South develops, unless Global South adopts artificial intelligence, it cannot bring a change in the world. And that is what this summit aims at, that we must impact the lives of common men. Nobody should be left behind.

And when we say this, we say, which means it’s AI for all. Everybody should be benefited. So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our elite panelists here. We have Her Excellency, Cina Lawson, Minister of Digital Transformation, Togo. Please welcome her. His Excellency, Nizar Patria, Vice Minister of Communications, Communications Indonesia, and His Excellency, Raafat Hindi, Minister of Communications, Egypt. It’s over to you, Ms. Debjani Ghosh. Thank you.

Debjani Ghosh

Thank you very much. much and good afternoon, everyone. And thank you to all of those who are here. So we are all finally here. And as you can see, this is truly a very power -packed panel. So since this is about the Impact Summit, the AI Impact Summit, and since we are gathered from all over the world to talk about the creation of Impact by AI, I want to first start with you, Mr. Patria. You know, when you think about the journey that we’ve had till now, the global community has had till now with AI, a lot of the focus has been on building the infrastructure. So how do you think we have really done on putting that infrastructure to work to create impact?

If you had to rate it on a scale of one to ten, what would you give the world? What score would you give the world?

Nizar Patria

This is really a challenging question, actually. if I had to give a number I would give 6 out of 10. Yeah why 6? because well if we talk about the emerging technologies like artificial intelligence is it is the words like a buzz like a mantra right now everyone talking about AI and AI right now is here is with us and many people they don’t scrutinize anymore about the useful of AI they just use but the problem is the level of adoption of this technology, this emerging technology, especially for the global short countries like Indonesia and maybe some of African countries, Asian countries. We still have a digital gap. Yes. Especially for Indonesia, we are an archipelago country.

We are archipelagic. So we have 17 ,000 islands. We have five big islands in Indonesia. And each island has a very unique characteristic, very unique people, culture, and so on. And the telecommunication infrastructure is very, very important for our country. That unites our country with this telecommunication infrastructure. We try to improve. We try to cover all of the archipelago by our telecommunication network. And now the internet penetration into the population is already about 80%. Our population right now is 250 million people. And now what we do with these infrastructures, digital infrastructure or telecommunication infrastructure, we want meaningful connectivity. Yeah, that’s it. Meaningful connectivity. That means how we use this connectivity with the emerging technologies like artificial intelligence on top of these infrastructures to give benefit to the people.

So government try to be the accelerator to build this meaningful connectivity

Debjani Ghosh

Now, that’s very well said. So six out of 10. And the main gap or the main reason is we still have miles to go before everyone has access. And access has to be meaningful. Right? I think that’s very well said. Ms. Lawson, would you agree with that? Or would you have a different take on that?

Cina Lawson

Hello, everyone. Good afternoon. Yes, I do agree. Absolutely. I think that when we talk about AI, for us, at least Africans, it’s not about the technology. It’s about what we can do with it. And so a few comments. Number one is that in terms of AI talent, the African continent represents less than 1 % worldwide. In terms of infrastructure, we also have a lot of AI talent. We also have challenges. You know, a lot of countries don’t have connected schools or hospitals. So we’re still building our connectivity. and I would say that but if you look at few examples few achievements that we had using AI in terms of impact we can see that even today it’s equal to 9 out of 10 so every time we implement it in our way solving our problems then the number comes closer to 10 than anything I would also say that the African Union position was to use artificial intelligence in real life use cases so the impact for us and the sectors, the priority sectors are government infrastructure and the way we function it’s health, education, agriculture so I think that if we succeed to implement AI in those sectors then our continent will change forever.

Debjani Ghosh

I really like that, the fact that you brought out three very important mission -critical sectors, rather than saying we need to go and do everything. But I think that priority is so important. And by the way, part of the seven working groups that was there under the AI Summit, one of the working groups, which I had the privilege of co -chairing, along with Indonesia and Netherlands, was economic impact and social development. And one of the things we decided that’s needed right now to accelerate impact is the creation of AI Commons that brings together best practices, know -how. So that was one of the key outcomes of part of the working groups that we launched. Mr. Hendy, if I may come to you.

When we talk about impact, one thing we realize is it means so many different things to so many different people. Can you give us an example of something? Something that you believe is truly… a North Star with respect to how impact has been created. A great example of how impact has been created.

Raafat Hindi

Yes, thank you. In Egypt, the most meaningful impact AI has been in expanding the access to the essential public services, such as healthcare and education, in a larger scale and at nation -wide. We are using AI tools for early detection for breast cancer and some diabetes -related conditions. And we are now launching a new AI powerful tool for education support to be used in high school with high school students and teachers across the country. For the first time, advanced medical screening and learning support become available for underserved community. We usually have able to do it in big city and in elite institution, but now we are able to do it with underserved community. Three things made this possible in Egypt.

A government -first approach that puts public interest first and sovereignty AI capability that reflects our language and our local needs. Also, the strong partnership between across the government and national AI ecosystem and the global partners. Thank you.

Debjani Ghosh

Mr. Patria, any good example that you would like to share of impact creation in Indonesia or any other country that you think has done a really good job of it?

Nizar Patria

Well, I will share one example from Indonesia, how this artificial intelligence can help. Because we are a very diverse nation and also archipelago country, so sometimes we in the public services, for instance, healthcare, we need effective and efficient technology adoptions to help these healthcare sectors. So now we try to to encourage our young generation that build a startup. And we try to facilitate them in what he calls is an AI innovation hub. And one of the product is try to help doctors in the remote area to diagnostic the tuberculosis. The tuberculosis or TBC is coming on the stage. And it becomes very difficult for the doctors in the remote area to detect because they have a very limited access on the modern equipment or sophisticated technology to detect this tuberculosis diseases.

But with the artificial intelligence, so this startup tried to gather all of the big data from the health center in the remote areas and then make a simple program and give it to the doctors. And combined with the x -ray machine, it can help doctors to identify whether this is TBC or this is just ordinary lung problems. So I see these initiatives in certain sectors already copied to other sectors for the education, for the agriculture. Many startups try to adopt this AI technology right now. And I can see and we can feel that the enthusiasm is really, really high. But the problem we need as a government, as a policymaker, we need to give the safeguard and to accelerate.

in building this healthy and fair ecosystem to boost the innovation on artificial intelligence.

Debjani Ghosh

Fantastic. Ms. Lawson, any favorite impact story that you want to share?

Cina Lawson

Yes, I have a great impact story. During the pandemic, we were able to use AI to prioritize the beneficiaries for our financial aid program. So at the height of the pandemic, we built a program to distribute cash using mobile phones, right? So the question then was, how do you prioritize beneficiaries? We started in 2020. And in 2020, we didn’t know if the pandemic was going to last for a long time. So we had one certainty, which was that we needed to be super efficient in programming. Prioritizing who needed the money the most. And so we used two AI algorithms. One… applied to satellite imagery. We drew the poverty map of Togo. And then another based on machine learning with telecom metadata, we were able to isolate the phone numbers of people who were, yeah.

So that was really our first major experience using AI. And then after the pandemic, the question for us was, we want this to be sustainable. Right? How do you, because it was during the pandemic, we had a partnership with Berkeley. So we were working, really figuring out things as they were coming. But afterwards, we wanted to build capabilities in -house. So we now have within the Ministry of Public Sector Efficiency, a team of 25 people, data scientists, and we support other branches of government. Because when we talk, you know, here we talk about AI and everybody really, knows what AI is and the type of applications that, you know, things we can do with AI.

But a lot of people, they don’t know what AI is. don’t know. So it’s very important to have a team of people who work, say, with the Ministry of Agriculture or the Ministry of Environment and producing images and really data that can help these ministries improve policies. So I think this is a great learning experience for us. It’s applying AI to improve policies.

Debjani Ghosh

It’s such a brilliant example because one, it impacts the grassroots, right? The people who need it the most. And second, it’s, you know, government has a lot of, I mean, especially in the Global South, a lot of government usages, augmentation of services. I think what you’re doing is really enabling better development of policies. And that’s that. I would, in fact, request you to please share this case study so we can put it in the AI Commons that we have built. So I would really request you to do that. The next question is also to you, Ms. Lawson, which is… As government, what do you think is the biggest roadblock to scaling impact creation where it can reach population?

Is it data? Is it infrastructure? Is it regulation? Or is it even geopolitical dynamics?

Cina Lawson

So I think it’s a combination of various things. We’re tackling all of these things. But first, it’s infrastructure, because that’s the starting point. But you also have something, when I was referring to the data lab, a lot of people don’t know this universe exists, right? That you can apply, you know, you can use AI to gather information as to when you want to design a new infrastructure, like an itinerary. For example, when we build our fiber optics network, we use satellite imagery and so on. But a lot of people just don’t know it exists. Right. So they can’t ask. They don’t know which question to ask. Right. And so. So even if we’re there, so we do a lot of outreach within government going and saying, look, this is what we were able to do using AI and so on.

So I think that what I would call institutional capacity is a roadblock because people just don’t know. So it’s a lot of training required. The other thing is, and I think it’s also one thing that we’ve been working on is right now AI is in French or English, right? It’s not in, it’s not, we have in Togo, we have 42 languages and dialects. And for AI to, if we want massive AI adoption, we need to be able to provide these models in local languages. So that’s one very important aspect of what we’ve been up to. 42 languages. Yeah. Wow. And dialects, you know, I’m sure that, yeah. Yeah. So that’s the challenge. But that’s also the opportunity because when you think about creating.

impact for AI. Think of education. Imagine, and that’s what I imagine, imagine a world where every school children has an AI tutor being able to explain to them, you know, math and science in local languages, in their own dialects. That’s for me, the power of AI, really.

Debjani Ghosh

So institutional capacity is one of the biggest roadblocks that you see. Mr. Pedra, is there anything you want to add to that in terms of the biggest roadblocks to mass scale impact creation?

Nizar Patria

Yeah, I agree with the colleagues from Togo. I think it’s the problem today for the global sub -countries like Indonesia, and I think some of African countries and other ASEAN countries. is now we are facing the geopolitical condition that you mentioned is really challenging times today because we are facing asymmetric conditions amongst global sorts and global norms. And that’s one problem because the platformization, the dominance of the platform is so important to define or to determine the progress of the fair ecosystem in one country. That’s the first thing. And the second one, I think the infrastructure is one of the critical things that we need to pay attention. We need to improve. We need to heighten the standard of services on this infrastructure.

And then regulations. I think regulation is also very important. in this sense because… Do we over -regulate? No, no, no. We don’t intend to heavily regulate these AI sectors because we try to balance protections and also innovations. That’s most important, I think. If you heavily regulate, so no innovations at all. I cannot agree more. Yeah, so we try to balance. And the most important, the last thing that is most important, I think, we need to improve our research and development and then attract the investment to support these innovations and to nurture our digital talent. That’s the most important that we have to do in the short term.

Debjani Ghosh

Extremely well said. And I think between the two of you really captured it. While infrastructure is always important and you always want to, you want more compute, you want to build it out. But if you don’t have institutional capacity, then investment in that infrastructure will not give you the returns. And regulation needs to help innovation, needs to help scale. And R &D is absolutely critical. So I think these are brilliant points. I know our time is up. So my last question, and I would request all three of you to answer. If we look at the next five years, the future, how should AI success be measured? Today, we are primarily looking at how many models we are building, how big are the models.

How should we be looking at AI success? What’s the North Star? I’ll start with you, Mr. Hindi.

Raafat Hindi

If I have to choose now, it would be this. The business. The percentage of people that have access. Wonderful. To high. Quality AI enabled services. Wonderful. Not the number of models, not the compute. The people’s benefits are the most important. They have to benefit from healthcare, from education, from agriculture and government. And the KPI matters for three reasons, actually. First, it shifts the focus from technology to people. And AI is advancing very fast. But access to it is not that fast. We need to make sure this happens. And this is what I can see for 2030, maybe for AI. Second, it exposes the global gaps, not hiding them. So gaps in the compute, gaps in infrastructure, in local language models.

So this is very important. The third one is it’s framing AI as a development tool. Not a dominant tool. where compute power is shared and public service is prioritized. I think this is what I look forward to.

Debjani Ghosh

So success is not the size of models or the size of your compute infrastructure, but how many lives we are able to change. And are we able to do that in a way that no one is left behind, right? It’s inclusive. Brilliant. Anything you all want to add? Any different thoughts, Mr. Patria and then Ms. Lawson?

Nizar Patria

Yeah, just a very short on this. I just want to add three more. But the first one I think is similar like colleagues from Egypt. In the next five years, AI should be accessible. That’s the first one. And the second one, for the global south countries, AI must solve the problem. That’s the most important. And the third one, I think AI, need to be trusted. trusted yeah need to be trusted so it need to comply with the transparency and accountability standard so no more AI deep fake can cheat people yeah so because people have good awareness on this AI product especially generative AI like AI deep fake or synthetic reality that produced by this AI machines so I think that three points we can give mark whether this AI workable in the society or it’s become a disaster to the

Debjani Ghosh

I cannot agree more with you on all three but I think the one that is most important is trust because if it’s not trustworthy it’ll never be adopted it’ll never be used so I think that is brilliant brilliant point Ms. Lawson the last words to you

Cina Lawson

I would echo what has been said and for me success would be I think If five years from now, every Togolese is one phone call away to access any public services, right? And so that’s how I’m going. Personally, I’m going to measure success with regards to AI in Togo because then it talks to the people, right? Because so far we’ve been talking about digital transformation, which was really going from paper to screen. But what is going to be a real game changer is if I can talk to the machine and the machine can reply and so on. So that’s one thing. And obviously, the comment about trust is a very important one. We are a very young continent.

Half of the African population is less than 18 years old and 75 % is less than 35. And so it’s very important for us to have a trusted AI. AI infrastructure and so on. And so there’s a lot of work that we need to do. We didn’t mention to have also standards and platform for data exchange, which is going to be extremely crucial in our relationship with the global north. So these are really important issues that we need to tackle if we want to be successful five years from now.

Debjani Ghosh

I think that’s very, very well put. And, you know, this was, ladies and gentlemen, such a powerful discussion because what’s coming out of it is how despite all the differences between countries, I think governments today are thinking very similarly about artificial intelligence. Its success, again, is not about the size of your infrastructure, but about how many lives changed. And in order to scale transformation of lives, you need to ensure your technology. It’s trustworthy. You need to ensure it’s inclusive by design. You need to invest in capacity development, innovation. And it’s fantastic to see everyone thinking along the same lines because it really. brings to forward the importance of collective action and collaboration and I think that’s what has come out of this summit.

So with that, thank you to all three of you and please give them a huge round of applause. Thank you.

Nizar Patria

Speech speed

97 words per minute

Speech length

Future metrics / North Star for AI success

Topics

Monitoring and measurement | Artificial intelligence | Human rights and the ethical dimensions of the information society

Cina Lawson

Speech speed

139 words per minute

Speech length

Future metrics / North Star for AI success

Topics

Monitoring and measurement | Artificial intelligence | Social and economic development

Raafat Hindi

Speech speed

104 words per minute

Speech length

Future metrics / North Star for AI success

Topics

Monitoring and measurement | Artificial intelligence | Social and economic development

Moderator

Speech speed

132 words per minute

Speech length

804 words

Speech time

363 seconds

Future vision – AI for all and global cooperation

Explanation

The moderator stresses that worldwide collaboration is required so that no one is left behind, positioning AI as a universal tool that must benefit the Global South.

Evidence

“This global cooperation is needed so that nobody is left out of the touch of artificial intelligence, the benefits of artificial intelligence.” [12]. “this ministerial conversation … bring to the fore those points on the basis of which we can say that AI is making an impact into the lives of people, especially the people of Global South.” [32]. “And when we say this, we say, which means it’s AI for all.” [96].

Major discussion point

Future metrics / North Star for AI success

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Closing all digital divides | Monitoring and measurement

Debjani Ghosh

Speech speed

166 words per minute

Speech length

1012 words

Speech time

365 seconds

Enabling environment – infrastructure, regulation and R&D

Explanation

Ghosh highlights that building infrastructure is only the first step; effective regulation, research & development, and capacity investment are essential to translate AI infrastructure into real impact.

Evidence

“You know, when you think about the journey that we’ve had till now, the global community has had till now with AI, a lot of the focus has been on building the infrastructure.” [18]. “So how do you think we have really done on putting that infrastructure to work to create impact?” [20]. “And regulation needs to help innovation, needs to help scale.” [65]. “And R &D is absolutely critical.” [68]. “You need to invest in capacity development, innovation.” [69]. “We also have challenges.” [70].

Major discussion point

Key barriers to scaling AI impact

Topics

Enabling environment for digital development | Artificial intelligence | Capacity development

Agreements

Agreement points

Infrastructure is fundamental but not sufficient – meaningful connectivity and access are crucial

Speakers

– Nizar Patria
– Cina Lawson

Arguments

Rates global AI infrastructure progress at 6/10 due to digital gaps and need for meaningful connectivity across 17,000 islands

Infrastructure is fundamental starting point, but many countries lack connected schools and hospitals

Summary

Both speakers agree that while infrastructure development is essential, the real challenge lies in creating meaningful connectivity that actually benefits people. They acknowledge significant gaps in basic connectivity across Global South countries.

Topics

Information and communication technologies for development | Closing all digital divides

AI success should be measured by impact on people’s lives, not technical metrics

Speakers

– Raafat Hindi
– Cina Lawson
– Debjani Ghosh

Arguments

Arguments

AI should focus on priority sectors: government infrastructure, health, education, and agriculture to transform the continent

AI enables expansion of essential public services like healthcare and education to underserved communities nationwide

Summary

Both speakers advocate for focusing AI implementation on critical public services, particularly healthcare and education, to maximize societal impact and reach underserved populations.

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Social and economic development

Similar viewpoints

All three speakers demonstrate practical, problem-solving approaches to AI implementation, focusing on addressing specific local challenges in healthcare, social services, and education through innovative applications.

Speakers

– Nizar Patria
– Cina Lawson
– Raafat Hindi

Arguments

AI innovation hubs help startups develop solutions like tuberculosis diagnostic tools for remote area doctors

Used AI algorithms with satellite imagery and telecom metadata to prioritize financial aid beneficiaries during pandemic

AI tools provide early detection for breast cancer and diabetes, plus educational support for high school students

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Social and economic development

Both speakers emphasize the critical importance of developing AI systems that are culturally and linguistically appropriate for local populations, moving beyond English/French-only systems to truly inclusive AI.

Speakers

– Cina Lawson
– Raafat Hindi

Arguments

AI must be available in local languages and dialects for massive adoption – Togo has 42 languages and dialects

Sovereignty AI capability should reflect local language and cultural needs

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Closing all digital divides | Human rights and the ethical dimensions of the information society

Both speakers identify capacity building and knowledge gaps as major barriers to AI adoption, emphasizing the need for education, training, and institutional development to enable effective AI utilization.

Speakers

– Cina Lawson
– Nizar Patria

Arguments

Institutional capacity is major roadblock as people don’t know AI applications exist or which questions to ask

Need to balance regulation between protection and innovation while improving R&D and attracting investment

Topics

Capacity development | Artificial intelligence

Unexpected consensus

Arguments

Rates global AI infrastructure progress at 6/10 due to digital gaps and need for meaningful connectivity across 17,000 islands

Infrastructure is fundamental starting point, but many countries lack connected schools and hospitals

Summary

Patria gives a specific 6/10 rating for global AI progress citing digital gaps, while Lawson suggests the rating could be as high as 9/10 when AI is properly implemented to solve local problems, indicating different perspectives on current AI implementation success

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Information and communication technologies for development | Closing all digital divides

Primary barriers to AI scaling

Speakers

– Cina Lawson
– Nizar Patria

Arguments

Institutional capacity is major roadblock as people don’t know AI applications exist or which questions to ask

Geopolitical conditions and platform dominance create asymmetric conditions between global south and north

Summary

Lawson identifies institutional capacity and knowledge gaps as the major roadblock, while Patria emphasizes geopolitical conditions and platform dominance as primary barriers, showing different views on what most significantly hinders AI adoption

Topics

Artificial intelligence | The enabling environment for digital development | Capacity development

Unexpected differences

Measurement of AI success and current progress

Speakers

– Nizar Patria
– Cina Lawson

Arguments

Rates global AI infrastructure progress at 6/10 due to digital gaps and need for meaningful connectivity across 17,000 islands

Infrastructure is fundamental starting point, but many countries lack connected schools and hospitals

Explanation

Despite both being from Global South countries with similar infrastructure challenges, they have significantly different assessments of current AI progress – Patria’s conservative 6/10 versus Lawson’s optimistic 9/10 for properly implemented AI solutions. This unexpected divergence suggests different experiences or expectations in AI implementation success

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Monitoring and measurement | Information and communication technologies for development

Overall assessment

Summary

The speakers showed remarkable consensus on AI goals and priorities, with disagreements mainly centered on assessment of current progress and identification of primary barriers to scaling

Disagreement level

Low to moderate disagreement level. The speakers fundamentally agreed on AI’s purpose (serving people, not technology), priority sectors (health, education, agriculture), and success metrics (people served rather than technical specifications). Disagreements were primarily tactical rather than strategic, focusing on different emphasis areas for overcoming barriers rather than conflicting visions for AI development. This suggests strong potential for collaborative approaches despite different national contexts and challenges.

Partial agreements

All speakers agree on the importance of localized AI solutions, but they emphasize different aspects – Patria focuses on regulatory balance and R&D investment, Lawson emphasizes linguistic diversity (42 languages in Togo), while Hindi stresses sovereign AI capabilities reflecting local needs

Speakers

– Nizar Patria
– Cina Lawson
– Raafat Hindi

Arguments

Need to balance regulation between protection and innovation while improving R&D and attracting investment

AI must be available in local languages and dialects for massive adoption – Togo has 42 languages and dialects

Sovereignty AI capability should reflect local language and cultural needs

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Human rights and the ethical dimensions of the information society | Closing all digital divides

All speakers agree on prioritizing healthcare and education sectors, but they propose different implementation approaches – Lawson advocates for focused government-led sectoral approach, Hindi emphasizes expanding existing services to underserved communities, while Patria focuses on startup-driven innovation hubs

Speakers

– Cina Lawson
– Raafat Hindi
– Nizar Patria

Arguments

AI should focus on priority sectors: government infrastructure, health, education, and agriculture to transform the continent

AI enables expansion of essential public services like healthcare and education to underserved communities nationwide

AI innovation hubs help startups develop solutions like tuberculosis diagnostic tools for remote area doctors

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Social and economic development | Information and communication technologies for development

Similar viewpoints

All three speakers demonstrate practical, problem-solving approaches to AI implementation, focusing on addressing specific local challenges in healthcare, social services, and education through innovative applications.

Speakers

– Nizar Patria
– Cina Lawson
– Raafat Hindi

Arguments

AI innovation hubs help startups develop solutions like tuberculosis diagnostic tools for remote area doctors

Used AI algorithms with satellite imagery and telecom metadata to prioritize financial aid beneficiaries during pandemic

AI tools provide early detection for breast cancer and diabetes, plus educational support for high school students

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Social and economic development

Both speakers emphasize the critical importance of developing AI systems that are culturally and linguistically appropriate for local populations, moving beyond English/French-only systems to truly inclusive AI.

Speakers

– Cina Lawson
– Raafat Hindi

Arguments

AI must be available in local languages and dialects for massive adoption – Togo has 42 languages and dialects

Sovereignty AI capability should reflect local language and cultural needs

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Closing all digital divides | Human rights and the ethical dimensions of the information society

Both speakers identify capacity building and knowledge gaps as major barriers to AI adoption, emphasizing the need for education, training, and institutional development to enable effective AI utilization.

Speakers

– Cina Lawson
– Nizar Patria

Arguments

Institutional capacity is major roadblock as people don’t know AI applications exist or which questions to ask

Need to balance regulation between protection and innovation while improving R&D and attracting investment

Topics

Capacity development | Artificial intelligence

Takeaways

Key takeaways

AI success should be measured by the percentage of people with access to high-quality AI-enabled services, not by the size of models or compute infrastructure

Global South countries face significant barriers including digital gaps, lack of institutional capacity, and need for meaningful connectivity rather than just basic infrastructure

AI implementation should prioritize mission-critical sectors: healthcare, education, agriculture, and government services to maximize impact

Trust, accessibility, and problem-solving capability are the three essential criteria for AI success in developing nations

Local language adaptation is crucial for mass AI adoption – countries like Togo with 42 languages and dialects need AI models that reflect local linguistic and cultural needs

Government-first approaches that put public interest and sovereignty first, combined with strong partnerships between government and national AI ecosystems, are essential for successful implementation

Institutional capacity building is a major roadblock as many people don’t know AI applications exist or which questions to ask

Regulation must balance protection with innovation to avoid stifling development while ensuring transparency and accountability

Resolutions and action items

Creation of AI Commons to bring together best practices and know-how for accelerating impact (mentioned as outcome of working groups)

Request for Ms. Lawson to share Togo’s pandemic financial aid case study for inclusion in the AI Commons

Need to develop AI models in local languages and dialects for massive adoption

Requirement to build in-house capabilities – Togo established a 25-person data science team within Ministry of Public Sector Efficiency

Focus on building AI innovation hubs to support startups developing solutions for local problems

Unresolved issues

How to address the geopolitical asymmetric conditions between Global South and Global North countries

Specific mechanisms for platform dominance issues and ensuring fair AI ecosystem development

Details on how to establish standards and platforms for data exchange between Global South and Global North

Concrete strategies for attracting investment to support AI innovations in developing countries

How to scale successful pilot projects to nationwide implementation

Specific approaches for building the required institutional capacity across different government ministries

Suggested compromises

Balanced regulation approach that protects citizens while fostering innovation rather than heavy regulation that stifles development

Focus on meaningful connectivity rather than just basic internet penetration to ensure quality access

This comment introduced the critical issue of trust and the growing public awareness of AI’s potential for deception. It brought a sobering reality check to the optimistic discussion by acknowledging that AI’s power can be misused and that public trust is essential for adoption.

Impact

This comment added a crucial dimension of responsibility and ethics to the discussion. It grounded the conversation in current realities about AI misuse and emphasized that technical capability without trustworthiness could undermine all the positive impacts discussed earlier.

Overall assessment

Explanation

Trust was identified as crucial for AI adoption, particularly regarding issues like deepfakes, but the concrete standards and mechanisms for ensuring AI transparency and accountability were not detailed

Disclaimer: This is not an official session record. DiploAI generates these resources from audiovisual recordings, and they are presented as-is, including potential errors. Due to logistical challenges, such as discrepancies in audio/video or transcripts, names may be misspelled. We strive for accuracy to the best of our ability.