EU AI Act Falls Short for Africa, Says Nairobi Fintech Practitioner

The EU AI Act, hailed as a global milestone in AI regulation, rests on assumptions about regulatory capacity, legal infrastructure, and consumer recourse that do not reflect realities in countries like Kenya. A fintech practitioner building Shamba Credit, an agricultural credit scoring system, highlights how African AI systems often rely on fragmented alternative data such as mobile money records and satellite readings, raising unresolved questions around consent, explainability, and liability. Kenya's Insurance Regulatory Authority is actively working to oversee a rapidly digitalizing industry, yet no standardized requirements currently exist for insurers to explain AI-driven claims or underwriting decisions to consumers. The author argues that Africa urgently needs its own AI governance frameworks built from the ground up, rather than retrofitted versions of European models. Proposed priorities include proportionate regulation suited to smaller operators, strengthened regional cooperation through the African Union AI Strategy, and governance standards grounded in local data and operational contexts.