Here’s why Uganda should not be left behind in the AI revolution

People who do not use Artificial Intelligence (AI) still see those who use it as lazy and incapable of utilizing their mental faculties.

With due respect, this mindset is way backward and such persons have already fallen way behind the technological evolution. There was a time when people in government offices would first make handwritten drafts and have secretaries type the work on computers.

All this has since changed and everyone has to have a computer on their desk to perform any serious task. Arguably, this will be the same for AI. However, we can neither overlook nor overstate the apparent risks, or even the clear benefits of the new technology.

When the United Nations convened its first Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva from July 6 to July 7, Yoshua Bengio, co-chair of the UN’s Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, told governments that science cannot currently guarantee that artificial intelligence will not cause catastrophic harm.

His co-chair, Maria Ressa, put it plainly: “The world cannot govern what it cannot understand.”

The United States arrived with a different emphasis. Addressing the UN General Assembly on September 22, President Donald Trump said the US “totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme” to control AI.

Trump also announced that the US government would now say “super intelligence”, not artificial intelligence, in official communications, arguing that the word “artificial” makes the technology sound fake.

Where does that leave Uganda and Africa as a whole? Africa went to Geneva asking for a seat and a share. Joyce Sebugwawo, the state minister for ICT and National Guidance, speaking on behalf of President Museveni, said the rules must be shaped with developing countries rather than written for them, and asked for help with computing power, skills and financing.

Back home, however, AI is already in daily use from research to designing billboards, signposts and flyers, but almost nobody admits it. Some people even wear avoiding AI as a badge of intelligence.

With respect, it is not one. Government has yet to say where it stands. The ministry of ICT and National Guidance promised a National AI and Emerging Technologies Strategy by June, and the Uganda Communications Commission has an AI taskforce drafting guidelines.

On August 20 this year, the ministry of Finance, through its Resource Enhancement and Accountability Programme, advertised a consultancy for a feasibility study on a “sovereign” AI-powered parliamentary system.

There is also the alleged Aeonian project by Synectics Technologies and partners including Schneider Electric and Nvidia, which proposes a 100-megawatt AI data and computing center. If set up, it will be Africa’s first dedicated AI data center.

As we continue to admire Rwanda, which has secured a deal to bring Formula 1 back to Africa, Uganda needs to leverage Artificial Intelligence and take center stage. What should government do now?

Parliament should debate AI from an informed point of view rather than rush a law. Legislating first and understanding later has cost us before. We cannot deny the fact that the enactment of the Protection of Sovereignty Act has contributed to the currency depreciation.

Members of parliament should call in experts, send colleagues for training, and benchmark against other countries. Existing laws on data protection, computer misuse and tax also need a fresh look to create a better environment for adoption of Artificial Intelligence.

Digital services, including AI subscriptions bought from abroad, already attract 18 per cent VAT. A more conducive levy could encourage adoption. There is still a lot of annoying and unnecessary hesitation to adopt the use of Artificial Intelligence in education.

Lecturers use AI to prepare teaching material, yet students who use it are branded unserious. Schools and universities could follow Victoria University’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Lawrence Muganga, who has spoken openly about teaching AI. They could require students to declare when they use it rather than punish them.

The Education ministry should set national direction, so that graduates enter the job market knowing how to use these tools. For lawyers, the one who chooses to avoid it is merely deceiving themselves.

Clients increasingly arrive with their own AI-generated drafts and ask us only for review. A foreign investor choosing a Ugandan tax adviser starts with an online search, and AI tools increasingly decide which firms are shown, so a firm with no digital footprint may never appear.

A young lawyer who drafts with AI and then checks and edits the result is not cutting corners; the skill lies in knowing the law well enough to correct the draft. It is no longer about who can draft a plaint off-head.

The courts have already started to witness the use of Artificial intelligence. In Uganda vs Tugume Abubakar, decided by the High court’s Anti-corruption division on January 19, 2026, counsel for the respondent cited two cases the court could not find and suspected were generated by AI without verification.

The court cautioned counsel, described the conduct as shoddy representation, and granted the applicant’s application. I am glad that the judge chose guidance and not reprimand.

Those who interface with ULII must have already noticed the presence of an AI tool. We can no longer avoid it. The same story runs through other professionals. Building plans were once drawn with T-squares and pencils, then AutoCAD arrived, and some senior architects looked down on young colleagues who drew on screens.

Now AI assists with designs and drawings. The regulating bodies should acknowledge this and issue guidance on who answers for an AI-assisted design. Software developers face the biggest opportunity and the biggest threat, since AI can write an app or website in minutes for someone who once needed a developer.

They must decide where they add value, and protect client code from chatbots. For bankers and accountants, books prepared by AI and left unchecked leave the human professional carrying the liability.

Doctors must learn to question the tool, since AI is already built into modern scanners. Security agencies face the sharpest edge. In Uganda, police reported Shs 72.1 billion lost to fraud and cyber incidents in 2024.

Imagine the kind of risk we stand to face with the emergence of powerful AI tools, while some outdated software is still being used. The government, companies and professionals should stop evading the technology.

Subscribe to the tools, hire people who can train staff. Lastly, learning the use of Artificial Intelligence should precede its adoption. AI mirrors its user, and the depth of a prompt shapes the answer.

Learning prompt engineering will save us the hallucinated reports, articles and those ugly-looking billboards and signposts on the roadside in Nakawa and Kireka.

aijukaallanrich@gmail.com

The author is an Associate Consultant: Legal and Regulatory Global Heath Economics LTD

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