Cameroon sets out its AI ambitions: 60,000 specialists and 12,000 jobs by 2040
Cameroon wants to be an active player in artificial intelligence rather than a passive user. “Cameroon no longer wants to undergo the AI revolution, but to become an organised and sovereign actor in it,” the state newspaper Cameroon Tribune wrote of the country’s new approach.
The strategy
Cameroon launched its National Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence (SNIA) on 7 July 2025 in Yaoundé, during national consultations on AI. Its targets for 2040 include:
- About 60,000 trained AI specialists, a significant share of them women.
- At least 12,000 direct jobs.
- A contribution of 0.8 to 1.2 percent of GDP.
Priority sectors include:
- Health: better diagnosis, management of medical data and telemedicine.
- Agriculture: higher yields, climate forecasting and food security.
- Education: personalised learning and wider access, including in remote areas.
- Public administration.
The latest step
At the Global AI and Digital Summit in Seoul, South Korea, held from 19 to 22 October and organised by the World Bank Group with the South Korean government, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Minette Libom Li Likeng said Cameroon is finalising a broader strategy for its digital economy.
It will cover digital infrastructure, data governance, skills, research and innovation, and rules for responsible AI, including a national framework to regulate the technology.
AI, she said, “if properly regulated and governed, would constitute one of the key stages in humanity’s evolution.”
AI is already here
Cameroonians already use AI daily through social media, writing tools, mobile payments and facial recognition. That brings risks as well as benefits, including disinformation, privacy violations and manipulated content, particularly sensitive in a country that has faced political tensions and conflict in its English-speaking regions.
The challenges
- Infrastructure: limited broadband and unreliable electricity outside major cities.
- Skills: training tens of thousands of specialists will require major investment in universities.
- Funding: the strategy’s budget has not been widely published.
- Regulation: Cameroon has no AI-specific law yet.
What to watch
- Publication of the digital economy strategy and AI regulatory framework.
- New training programmes in universities.
- Government AI projects in health and agriculture.
Sources: Business in Cameroon, 26 October 2026; Cameroon Tribune, 30 December 2025; OECD.AI.
Top photo: Central Yaoundé, Cameroon (file photo). Photo: Frederic PAPY, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
