The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Hon. Samuel Nartey George (MP), has urged public relations and communications professionals to play a central role in demystifying Artificial Intelligence (AI) and framing it as an enabler of opportunity and empowerment.
Speaking at the 2025 PR Knowledge Sharing Conference on Thursday, 2nd October, at the Accra International Conference Centre, the Minister stressed that AI is no longer science fiction but an integral part of daily life—powering hospitals, classrooms, businesses, and mobile applications worldwide.
Delivering remarks on the sub-theme “Communicating AI for Socio-Economic Development,” Hon. George reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to becoming a knowledge-driven and innovation-led economy.
He noted that government’s digital transformation agenda is anchored on achieving a digitally inclusive, data-driven society, with deliberate steps being taken to harness AI responsibly.
He highlighted ongoing policy measures, including the development of the Ghana AI Practitioners Guide and the near-complete National AI Strategy, revised with support from the UK’s FCDO, which is expected to go before Cabinet and be launched before the end of the year.
These efforts, he said, aim to position Ghana as Africa’s hub for responsible AI innovation.
Backing this vision with tangible action, the Minister revealed that earlier this year, Ghana signed a $1 billion agreement with the UAE government to establish Africa’s first AI Innovation Hub at Dawa in the Greater Accra Region.
He further disclosed that the Ministry was working with academic institutions to develop Large Language Models (LLMs) in Ghanaian and African languages, including Twi, Ga, Ewe, Dagbani, Nzema, and Kusasi, with ongoing collaborations in Yoruba, Hausa, Creole, and Swahili.
These initiatives, he stressed, reflect Ghana’s commitment to advancing AI solutions through an African lens.
“The real challenge is communication. No matter how good your policy is, if you do not tell your story right, nobody will appreciate what you have done,” the Minister said.
He therefore urged communicators to show citizens the practical benefits of AI—such as predicting rainfall to improve farming yields, enabling early disease detection, and powering local-language chatbots for faster public services—while addressing public fears around job losses, ethics, and data misuse.
Hon. Nartey George used the opportunity to celebrateGhanaian innovation, citing Darlington Akologo’s Moremi AI for early cancer detection, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as an example of world-class excellence emerging from Ghana.
He also noted that Google’s global addressing system was backed by AI research developed at Google’s AI lab in Accra.
He concluded by calling on communications professionals to act as “bridge builders” between the technical world and the public, and to work with government, academia, innovators, civil society, and global bodies such as IPR Ghana, APRA, and IPRA to shape accurate, ethical, and inclusive communication strategies.
