Inaugural Lecture by Prof. Isaac Wiafe

AI becomes relevant to a nation only when it transforms daily lives, improves productivity, and empowers ordinary citizens rather than merely being adopted as a foreign technology. For developing countries like Ghana, the key challenge is not whether to adopt AI, but whether AI will be shaped to reflect local languages, cultures, and realities, or whether it will perpetuate dependency on foreign systems. True AI relevance requires three conditions: technology adoption, behavioral change, and contextual intelligence that understands local languages, cultures, institutions, and human needs. Without deliberate investment in local data infrastructure, talent development, and inclusive design, AI risks becoming a tool that deepens inequality rather than solving public problems.