How does technology transfer affect sub-Saharan Africa, especially her sociocultural and economic circumstances? I argue that technology transfer creates a disruption to the cultural worldviews and socio-economic conditions of sub-Saharan Africa. As it bears mentioning, in our contemporary social milieu, digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robots have become pervasive, reshaping our perceptions of the world, as well as our societal norms and cultural values. In the field of medicine, for example, diagnostic technologies constantly redefine doctor-patient relationships and influence medical decision-making. In addition, technologies like care robots introduce novel approaches to interaction in care facilities. These technologies are, in Hopster’s words, “socially disruptive” because they challenge our traditional norms and alter our engagement with our environment and those around us. This is precisely the reason why the transfer of technology is problematic.

Technologies are never value-neutral most especially since they establish power relations within specific environments. They carry properties that are inseparably linked to the institutionalized patterns of power and authority in which they originated. What is of significance is that as technologies are transferred from place to place, the embedded cultural values and norms are also transferred. As Ihde puts it, technology transfer involves the introduction of material artefacts from their original cultural context into another. In Africa, especially the sub-Sahel, the adoption of new technologies, most often from the global North, reflects this process, a process that can have significant disruptive consequences for aspects of African culture, values, norms, and even economies. For example, care robot disrupts African values of family and caring for the elderly. To mitigate this problem, I propose that technology design should be a partnership of shared agency between the global North and sub-Saharan Africa. 

Part of the panel Rethinking AI Ethics in, for and from sub-Saharan Africa