‘Seize AI now,’ Ramaphosa warns, as Google unveils landmark cloud push [VIDEO]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged the continent to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technologies, warning that hesitation will leave nations trailing in the global digital race.

His call came as Google Cloud hosted its inaugural Africa Cloud Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre, drawing more than 3,000 business leaders, developers, public sector officials, and partners under the theme “Building for Africa with Google Cloud.”

‘Africa’s position’

“Today’s Google Cloud Summit affirms Africa’s position as a core growth region for the global cloud ecosystem,” Ramaphosa declared.

“As we step boldly into the age of artificial intelligence, our aspiration is to anchor South Africa as a catalyst for the continent’s digital ascendancy. By building robust infrastructure to harness this technology, we are doing more than modernising our economy; we are taking a quantum leap into the future.”

AI

Ramaphosa positioned AI as both a development imperative and a survival tool.

“All of us must really adapt AI‑enabled services at scale, and we should do so much more rapidly and at a lower cost than through legacy IT infrastructure,” he said.

“We envision a South Africa where these technologies are rapidly deployed across the public sector, enabling us in government to modernise public administration, education, transportation, public infrastructure, and the delivery of basic services.”

Working from home

He tied the digital transformation agenda to the lived experience of the COVID-19 lockdowns.

“I was one of the most hated persons in our country then, when I said everyone should stay at home,” he recalled.

“We saw how technology even enabled young people who were either at university or high school to continue learning. We also learned how to run our businesses from home and how it’s become our usual occurrence where companies now say you can work at home and you can monitor and manage yourself.”

Fighting disease

Ramaphosa stressed that AI is not simply another innovation but a general‑purpose technology comparable to electricity or the internet.

“We envision a country where AI solutions are deployed for disease management and prevention, to manage the national energy grid, by farmers to predict weather patterns, and by scientists to guide our national climate response,” he said.

“As the African Union’s champion for pandemic prevention, he added: “Tomorrow I will be going to the DRC, where there is now Ebola. We are discussing with President Tshisekedi how, through enabling technologies, we can confront Ebola and many other diseases.”

Google investment

Google used the summit to announce five new initiatives, building on its $1 billion investment pledge and recent $37 million AI skills and research funding.

These include a new connectivity hub in South Africa’s Eastern Cape to anchor the Umoja subsea cable, Africa’s first applied AI lab in Ghana, creative AI education programs, a digital innovation centre in Soweto, and the next cohort of its Google for Startups Accelerator.

AI opportunity

James Manyika, Google’s Senior Vice President for Research, Labs, Technology & Society, said: “The AI opportunity for Africa is significant, and Google is committed to doing our part, working with Africans to help Africa realise it.

“From a new Digital Exchange Port in the Eastern Cape to Africa’s first Applied AI lab, we’re harnessing technical progress and building partnerships to amplify and scale Africa’s incredible vibrancy, hustle, and innovation for the world.”

Ramaphosa closed with a continental call to action: “No person must be left behind in this new digital age. No country on the African continent must be left behind. Let us continue to work together.”