Africa’s 1.4 billion people risk being written out of the artificial intelligence era before it fully begins, unless the continent takes a deliberate seat at the table where global rules are being written. That warning comes from Sunil Geness, SAP’s director of global government affairs and corporate social responsibility for Africa, ahead of a landmark gathering of international policymakers next month.
The scale of the problem is concrete. An estimated 2.2 billion people worldwide remain offline, leaving roughly a quarter of the global population cut off from AI-driven opportunities. For Africa, the consequences of exclusion from governance frameworks now being built could deepen existing inequalities rather than allow AI to serve as a tool for economic growth and shared prosperity.
Geness will participate in the International Telecommunication Union’s AI for Good Global Summit, scheduled for July 7-10 in Geneva. The newly launched AI for Good Global Commission will hold its inaugural meeting there, bringing together representatives from governments, businesses and international organizations to identify practical pathways for expanding AI access, strengthening public trust and maximizing social and economic benefits for citizens worldwide.
The appointment of Rwandan President Paul Kagame as co-chair of the commission, alongside Salesforce Chair and CEO Marc Benioff, signals a meaningful shift toward African representation in these conversations. Kagame was direct about what technology must deliver for ordinary people. “Technology is supposed to be a force for good, and we have a responsibility to use it accordingly,” he said. “Let us work together to reduce inequality and allow more of our citizens to benefit from the good AI can deliver to all of us.”
That framing, centered on citizens rather than markets, runs through the commission’s stated mission. The ITU has emphasized that bridging digital divides sits at the core of the body’s purpose, ensuring AI becomes a mechanism for solving global challenges rather than sharpening the inequalities that already limit access to health, education and economic participation.
ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin, who serves as vice chair of the commission, was candid about the limits of any single institution’s reach. “No organisation can single-handedly put AI at the service of all humanity,” she said. “It will take collective leadership and the combined expertise of partners across sectors to ensure AI benefits everyone, everywhere.”
For Africa to convert that principle into practice, Geness argued, the continent must arrive in Geneva with ambition rather than defensiveness. “Africa must meet that room with clarity, not caution. Our agenda should be simple and bold: AI governance that expands prosperity,” he said. “That means compute access, skills investment, trusted data systems, open standards, local-language innovation, accountable public procurement, and regulation that protects people without suffocating entrepreneurs.”
The immediate practical task, in his view, is translating the African Union’s Continental AI Strategy from a policy document into concrete national roadmaps, investment pipelines and mechanisms for regional cooperation. Fifty-four nations negotiating as a bloc carry far more weight than fifty-four separate voices. “This is technology diplomacy,” Geness explained. “This is where I hope to add value.”
Benioff, meanwhile, tied AI’s economic promise directly to the question of public trust, a concern that cuts across every population the technology is meant to serve. “The promise of AI is built not only on incredible opportunities for economic growth, but on the foundation of trust required for our shared success,” he said.
The Geneva summit takes place during Digital Week, running July 6-10, which also includes the first U.N.-mandated Global Dialogue on AI Governance and the WSIS Forum 2026. The convergence of these events reflects the urgency driving international institutions to establish governance frameworks before the technology’s trajectory becomes locked into patterns that exclude large portions of the world’s population. Whether the commission’s inaugural meeting produces binding commitments or aspirational language will determine how much of that urgency translates into protection for the people who need it most.