The AI divide: Will Ghana create prosperity or deepen inequality?

The urgent choices facing workers, businesses, investors and government

A young Ghanaian graduate spends months searching for an entry level job while a company uses software to draft correspondence, prepare reports and analyse customer enquiries. A bank introduces automated credit assessment. A teacher discovers that pupils can produce sophisticated answers without demonstrating understanding. These developments raise a difficult question: will artificial intelligence create opportunity for more Ghanaians, or concentrate its rewards among those who already possess capital, technology and specialised skills?

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is not merely another office tool. It is reshaping the value of knowledge, the organisation of work and the competitiveness of entire economies. In an interview reported by The Observer on October 25, 2026, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates described AI as an “evolutionary event”, anticipating far reaching changes in discovery, professional services and robotics. That assessment is a warning to prepare, not proof that human employment is about to disappear. Ghana must respond with evidence, urgency and sound judgement rather than fear or excitement alone.

The International Monetary Fund estimated in 2024 that nearly 40 percent of employment worldwide was exposed to AI, compared with approximately 60 percent in advanced economies and 26 per cent in low income countries. Exposure means that particular tasks could be transformed, assisted or replaced; it does not mean that every affected worker will lose a job.

In January 2025, the World Economic Forum projected that structural changes across the labour market could create 170 million jobs and displace 92 million by 2030, producing a net increase of 78 million. This projection reflects several forces, including technology, demographic change and economic transition. It must not be presented as an estimate of jobs created solely by AI. The International Labour Organisation also reported in May 2025 that roughly one in four workers globally was in an occupation with some exposure to generative AI, with clerical work particularly affected.

The lesson is clear. National output may rise while specific professions experience falling demand, reduced bargaining power or stagnant wages. A larger economy does not automatically produce fairer opportunities. Public policy must therefore examine not only how much AI contributes to growth, but also who benefits and who bears the cost of adjustment.

Ghana has a foundation on which to build. DataReportal estimated 26.3 million internet users and internet penetration of 74.6 per cent in late 2025. Yet a mobile connection is not the same as reliable electricity, affordable high speed broadband, secure computing capacity or the ability to develop useful local systems. Digital access becomes economic inclusion only when people can translate connectivity into skills, jobs and enterprise value.

Properly governed AI could help agricultural extension officers identify crop diseases, support translation into Ghanaian languages, improve medical triage, assist teachers with lesson preparation and strengthen the detection of fraud. Manufacturers could reduce waste, banks could improve service delivery, and tax authorities could identify anomalies for further human investigation. Conversely, poorly designed systems could compromise personal information, reproduce discrimination, weaken professional judgement or direct valuable business income to overseas technology providers.

The fiscal implications deserve attention. If productivity rises while formal employment or taxable wages decline in particular sectors, household purchasing power and public revenue may come under pressure. The appropriate response is not to punish innovation, but to modernise labour market policy, tax administration, competition rules and the protection of people whose work is changing.

Table 1. Illustrative implications of AI adoption and appropriate responses.

Businesses should resist adopting AI merely because competitors are doing so. Imagine an enterprise spending GH¢300,000 each year on an AI system that delivers GH¢420,000 in verified annual operating savings. Its illustrative net annual benefit is GH¢120,000, equivalent to a simple 40 per cent return on the stated annual cost. This is not a market forecast. The actual investment case must account for integration, staff training, cybersecurity, errors, financing, taxes and operational disruption.

Investors should distinguish measurable cash flow improvements from fashionable claims about innovation. Board oversight, customer retention, information security, ownership of data and exposure to a few foreign suppliers remain critical. A credit model that is fast but unfair can destroy trust and trigger financial or legal consequences. Efficiency without accountability is neither prudent banking nor sustainable development.

The greatest danger to young people is not that machines can answer questions. It is that education systems may continue to reward the repetition of answers rather than understanding, judgement and practical problem solving. Ghana’s schools, training institutions and universities should strengthen numeracy, communication, creativity, applied science, ethical reasoning, entrepreneurship and the ability to challenge unreliable AI outputs.

Teachers remain vital as mentors, safeguards and builders of character. Similarly, workers in administration, finance, retail, media and professional services require opportunities to learn new tools while developing distinctly human strengths such as empathy, negotiation, responsibility and trusted decision making. Retraining should reach women, rural communities, young jobseekers and microenterprises, not only employees of large urban companies.

1. Make national AI plans measurable.

Define clear targets for employment, learning, public service quality, local language coverage and responsible procurement.

2. Strengthen the basic infrastructure.

Expand dependable power, affordable connectivity, cybersecurity and secure access to computing beyond major cities.

3. Invest in lifelong learning.

Connect schools, universities, employers and technical institutions to short, affordable and practical retraining programmes.

4. Keep humans accountable.

Require testing, explanations and accessible appeals wherever AI influences credit, healthcare, education or public services.

5. Build African ownership.

Support local research, entrepreneurs, language resources and regional markets so more economic value remains within Africa.

6. Measure the social results.

Monitor occupational changes, wages, productivity, inequality, tax receipts and the real benefits delivered to households.

Artificial intelligence offers Ghana a chance to produce more, deliver better services and compete in markets that once seemed beyond its reach. Yet those opportunities will not be shared automatically. Without stronger education, local enterprise capacity, fair rules and protection for vulnerable workers, technological progress could widen the distance between those who own intelligent systems and those whose livelihoods they transform.

The national ambition must be larger than acquiring new software. Government should set the conditions for trust and inclusion; businesses should invest responsibly; educators should prepare adaptable thinkers; and individuals should keep learning. Ghana’s success in the AI era should ultimately be judged not by the number of machines deployed, but by the quality of jobs created, livelihoods improved, and opportunities opened to its people.

By Prof. Samuel Lartey

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