They made the call during a panel discussion on “Youth Development Opportunities,” where they stressed the need for sustained investment in basic digital infrastructure to support the scaling up of AI across disciplines, especially for young people.

The panelist observed that artificial intelligence had become permanent and cautioned that Ghanaian youth could not afford to be left behind.

They called on the Government to prioritise teacher training to ensure educators understood and effectively applied AI to enhance teaching and learning outcomes.

The discussants were Mr Frederick Yeboah, Director of Research and Innovation at the Ghana-India 
Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (GI-KACE); Prof. Simon-Peter Kafui Aheto, Associate Professor of Information Technology and Education at the University of Ghana; Dr Hayford Mensah Ayerakwa, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator at the University of Ghana Learning Centre, Cape Coast; and Dr Frank Acquaye, Managing Director of AdwumaTech AI Dr Ayerakwa said the State must play a lead role in AI adoption by providing the necessary infrastructure and expressed concern about the absence of a national AI framework.

“The world is not waiting for us to catch up. We need to start from the basics and start putting in the systems needed for us to fully adopt AI,” he said.

Dr Acquaye called for a change in mindset about AI, urging stakeholders to focus more on its positive applications rather than perceived risks.

“Let’s first build the infrastructure before we worry about positives and negatives with AI,” he said.

Mr Yeboah said the Government’s One Million Coders Programme offered a major opportunity to equip young people with employable digital skills, and urged the public to show interest when it was fully implemented.

He said the pilot phase had been conducted in three regions and that nationwide implementation was expected this year.

“We want this to be very inclusive, so we are going to give priority to women and persons with disability,” he said.

Prof. Aheto stated that processes were ongoing to develop an AI framework for Ghana with support from UNESCO, noting that existing UNESCO frameworks could serve as interim reference points.

“We should integrate ethics across our learning. If we are strong in our ethics; we won’t struggle with the negatives of AI,” he said.

The New Year School is an annual forum organised by the University of Ghana to provide a platform for public discourse on national and global development issues.

The 77th edition convened policymakers, academics, industry leaders and civil society to assess emerging challenges and opportunities, focusing on harnessing knowledge and innovation to drive Ghana’s development agenda.