NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 21 — Kenya is moving quickly to regulate Artificial Intelligence. But as new laws, policies and guidelines emerge, a bigger concern is beginning to take shape: who exactly will be in charge?
The country now has a National AI Strategy, a proposed AI law, a draft policy covering AI and other emerging technologies, data protection guidance and voluntary industry standards.
On paper, the activity shows Kenya is taking AI seriously.
But with several institutions developing their own rules and oversight mechanisms, there is a growing risk of confusion unless the different frameworks are brought together.
Kenya’s National AI Strategy 2025–2030, launched in March 2025, sets out an ambitious plan for the country’s AI future.
It identifies infrastructure, data, research, talent, governance, investment and ethics as key areas Kenya must focus on if it is to become a serious player in Artificial Intelligence.
The challenge, however, is implementation.
The strategy was estimated to require about Sh152 billion over five years. Yet the 2026/27 national budget does not contain a dedicated allocation specifically identified for its implementation.
That leaves an important question hanging over Kenya’s AI ambitions: how will the strategy be funded, and who will drive its implementation?
Another question is also emerging: who will regulate AI?
A proposed Artificial Intelligence Bill, 2026, sponsored by nominated Senator Karen Nyamu, seeks to establish an Office of the Artificial Intelligence Commissioner as a key oversight body.
The Bill proposes a risk-based approach to regulating AI and includes safeguards touching on human rights, personal data and harmful uses of the technology.
Nyamu has argued that Kenya cannot afford to sit back and simply consume AI without setting rules for its use.
“We can’t be consumers of AI without regulating it.”
She has also raised concerns about AI-generated content, job losses and the growing use of people’s images and voices without their control.
But even as Parliament considers the proposed law, the Ministry of ICT is working on its own AI framework.
The Ministry’s draft Kenya Artificial Intelligence and Other Emerging Technologies Policy, published for public participation in 2026, proposes a broader governance framework for AI and other emerging technologies.
The draft builds on existing laws and frameworks, including the National AI Strategy and the Data Protection Act.
ICT Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo has described the moment as an opportunity for Kenya to decide whether it wants to merely adopt new technologies or play a role in shaping their future.
“Every technological revolution presents a defining choice: to simply adopt innovation or to shape its future.”
Among its proposals, the draft policy calls for greater transparency, including requiring people to be informed when they are interacting directly with an AI system.
The problem is that the Ministry’s proposed governance structures could eventually have to operate alongside the AI oversight mechanisms proposed under Nyamu’s Bill.
And that is where Kenya could face trouble.
AI already cuts across several sectors regulated by different institutions, including data protection, communications, financial services, healthcare and cybersecurity.
The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner is also moving to define how existing data protection laws should apply to Artificial Intelligence.
A July 2026 draft guidance note seeks to apply Kenya’s Data Protection Act across the AI lifecycle, covering the collection and use of personal data, security, accountability and data breaches.
The guidance identifies concerns around automated decision-making, profiling, bias and discrimination, transparency and the protection of vulnerable groups.
It also points to one of the biggest problems surrounding modern AI systems: understanding how some of them arrive at certain decisions.
This matters when AI is used in areas that can directly affect people’s lives.
Artificial Intelligence is increasingly finding its way into banking, healthcare, insurance, employment, education, media and government services.
A flawed or biased system could potentially affect whether someone gets a loan, secures employment or accesses an important service.
Kenya’s existing data protection laws provide an important starting point. But AI presents other problems that go beyond personal data, including safety, accountability and harmful synthetic content.
Those gaps are part of the reason the push for broader AI regulation is gathering pace.
The risks are no longer theoretical.
Kenya has already seen manipulated videos and images used to mislead the public.
Africa Check, for example, investigated a fake video that appeared to show Citizen TV journalist Yvonne Okwara interviewing businessman and politician Jimi Wanjigi about what was presented as a lucrative investment opportunity.
The video was manipulated and appeared to use the likenesses of recognizable public figures to promote an investment scheme.
The case demonstrated how easily AI-generated or manipulated content can be used to exploit public trust.
Other incidents have also raised alarm. Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei previously shared a fake video attributed to CNN, while another manipulated video falsely appeared to misrepresent two senators.
The risk is likely to grow as Kenya moves closer to the 2027 General Election.
Fake videos, cloned voices and manipulated images could become powerful tools for spreading false information and influencing voters.
The proposed AI Bill seeks to address some of these risks, including harmful and misleading AI-generated content such as deepfakes.
But regulation also has to contend with another reality: Kenya wants to position itself as a regional technology and AI hub.
Startups, financial institutions and established technology companies are increasingly incorporating AI into their operations.
The country’s digital economy has been projected to reach about USD23 billion, while an estimated 1.9 million Kenyans are engaged in digital and digitally enabled work.
At the same time, AI could disrupt parts of the workforce.
An Overseas Development Institute (ODI) analysis found that about 2.5 million Kenyans work in occupations with high or significant exposure to generative AI automation.
Clerical and knowledge workers are among those facing the greatest exposure.
Researcher Alberto Lemma has warned that entry-level white-collar jobs could be particularly vulnerable.
“If AI automates away many of these entry-level white-collar jobs before Kenya fully industrializes, a generation of young workers could find themselves trapped between subsistence farming and a hollowed-out formal sector.”
The ODI analysis estimates that hundreds of thousands of workers in highly exposed occupations face the greatest immediate disruption, while millions more work in jobs with significant exposure to generative AI.
So Kenya faces a delicate balancing act.
The country needs rules that protect workers, consumers and fundamental rights. But it also needs to avoid creating a regulatory maze that discourages companies from investing or developing new products.
For businesses, the biggest concern may not be regulation itself.
It may be uncertainty.
“Businesses will want clarity on which AI systems will be classified as high-risk, what assessments or documentation will be required before deployment and how any new AI oversight body will work with existing regulators such as the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner,” said IT expert Daniel Omwoyo.
“They will also want to know whether innovators will be able to test new products under coordinated regulatory sandboxes rather than navigating several approval processes.”
KICTANet has questioned whether enough stakeholder engagement was carried out in developing the proposed AI Bill.
“We should not rush to pass it in its current form.”
The organization has argued that Kenya should use the opportunity to develop rules that reflect the country’s own circumstances while still allowing innovation to grow.
The Ministry has also opened its draft AI and emerging technologies policy to public participation, inviting views from the private sector, innovators, professional bodies, academia and other interested groups.
The challenge now is to ensure that Kenya’s AI rules do not develop into competing systems of oversight.
As the country moves from strategy to legislation and implementation, the question will not simply be whether Kenya can regulate AI.
It will be whether it can build a coherent system that protects the public, gives businesses clarity and still leaves room for innovation.
