Rwandan President Paul Kagame has been appointed co-chair of the AI for Good Global Commission, officially launched on July 1, 2026 by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), alongside Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce. This appointment places Africa at the heart of global debates on artificial intelligence governance.
44 Members to Govern Global AI
The commission brings together 44 founding members from government, industry, and UN bodies. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU Secretary-General, serves as Vice-Chair. The operational launch took place at the AI for Good Summit held in Geneva from July 7-10, 2026.
Its three core objectives: strengthening trust in AI systems, broadening access to AI tools in developing countries, and accelerating their deployment to address global challenges — health, agriculture, education, and climate.
Rwanda, Africa's AI Pioneer
Kagame's appointment is far from coincidental. Rwanda adopted its national AI policy as early as April 2023, signed the Bletchley Declaration in November of that year, and hosted the first global AI Summit in Africa in Kigali in April 2025. The country aims for AI to contribute 5% of its GDP, and has mobilized $17.5 million from the Gates Foundation for its Rwanda AI Scaling Hub.
At a continental scale, ambitions are even greater: an African AI fund of $60 billion was discussed at the Kigali summit, designed to finance digital infrastructure and talent across the continent.
Why It Matters
«Technology is supposed to be a force for good, and it's our responsibility to use it accordingly,» Kagame stated. Beyond symbolism, this co-chairmanship gives Africa a seat at the table where global AI rules will be shaped — a crucial stake in ensuring the continent is a beneficiary, not merely a consumer, of the ongoing technological revolution. For investors in the Indian Ocean, the signal is clear: East Africa is becoming an AI laboratory worth watching closely.