A new report by PwC's 29th Global CEO Survey has highlighted a significant "implementation gap" in Artificial Intelligence AI across Africa, which is slowing the continent's digital transformation. While 75 of African CEOs expressed strong intent to adopt AI last year, cautious investment approaches and structural barriers are preventing businesses from scaling these technologies effectively.
The survey emphasizes that although AI dominates boardroom discussions, actual deployment across business functions is lagging behind global peers. This gap threatens to widen the competitive divide between African organizations and their international counterparts. Many firms have completed basic "lift and shift" cloud migrations but have not optimized applications for cloud-native capabilities, leaving them without a scalable infrastructure essential for AI adoption.
Investment challenges are also significant. Only 26 of African CEOs believe their current investment levels are sufficient to achieve their organization's AI goals. Foreign exchange pressures and the high cost of capital-intensive technology make sustained investment difficult. Talent scarcity further compounds the problem, with only 37 of CEOs reporting access to the technical expertise required for AI initiatives. Many local professionals are being recruited by global competitors, making it harder for African firms to build internal capacity.
