The Geopolitics of Artificial Intelligence in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review of Funding Dynamics and Digital Sovereignty (2019-2025)

Abstract

As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly reshapes global economies, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces a critical geopolitical juncture between unprecedented technological leapfrogging and a new era of digital dependency. This study aimed to empirically audit the geographic and sectoral distribution of over $2 billion in corporate AI capital deployed across the continent from 2019 to 2025. While existing literature extensively theorises on AI ethics, a serious structural transparency gap complicates the physical and financial realities of infrastructural capture by the Global North, making this independent mapping practically and academically vital. Utilising the PRISMA 2020 framework, this research conducted a systematic review and thematic synthesis of primary corporate disclosures and grey literature, analysed through the lens of Digital World-Systems Theory. The findings reveal a hyper-concentration of capital, engineering a technology hub hegemony strictly within South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. Furthermore, a profound terrestrial bias demonstrates that foreign organisations secured foundational compute architecture, specifically subsea cables and hyperscale data centres, years before engaging in local policymaking or mass workforce skilling. By transitioning from theoretical decolonial evaluation to empirical financial tracking, this study fills a critical literature void, proving that current corporate deployments actively foster ecosystem lock-in rather than true algorithmic sovereignty. Therefore, to realise the African Union's Agenda 2063, regional policymakers must urgently de-privatise critical compute infrastructure, mandate corporate financial transparency, and decouple local entrepreneurial innovation from mandatory foreign cloud monopolies.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Sub-Saharan Africa, Digital Sovereignty, Digital World-Systems Theory, Digital Infrastructure, Algorithmic Dependency, Geopolitics of Technology