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CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
This fragrance company is trying to recreate the scent of extinct blooms
What do you get when you combine a team of scientists, a lab specializing in sequencing DNA and some extinct species? While the answer could be the plot of 'Jurassic Park,' these are actually the foundations of Future Society, a biotech fragrance company that has changed the landscape of scent by conjuring extinct flowers. Working together with the Harvard University Herbaria — home to over five million botanical specimens — Future Society has successfully sequenced the genetic codes of preserved plants, some of which date back more than 150 years. Six of them have already been made into perfumes, with signature notes ranging from the green to woody and floral. Take the orbexilum stipulatum, a herbaceous, flowering plant that grew on Rock Island in the shallowest part of the old Falls of the Ohio and is last known to have flowered in 1881. The plant is thought to have been wiped out after the eradication of buffalo that used to migrate through the area, meaning its seeds were no longer dispersed far and wide. Then in the 1920s, the entire area was flooded by dams, submerging all hope for it. 'We set out to make scents we've never smelled before and fragrances that were previously not possible to make,' said Jasmina Aganovic, founder and CEO of Future Society and its parent company Arcaea, in a video interview with CNN. The six fragrances, Aganovic explained, have been made possible by DNA sequencing. 'It's similar (to the) technology that was used on and 23andme whereby users spit into a tube, send it away and wait to find out about their genetics,' she said. 'We used this technology on preserved plant specimens from extinct flowers, searching for scent molecules which started to provide a glimpse into what these extinct flowers might have smelled like.' Not an exact science Aganovic didn't set out with a grand plan for a certain flower she was desperate to smell, but wanted to demonstrate how new biological advancements could be used in the beauty sector. In a 'not very romantic' fashion, the Future Society team looked at how many specimens existed in the Harvard University Herbaria, how many samples they could get and which of those would be reconstructible, because DNA degrades over time, she said. 'Ultimately we didn't know if this de-extincting exercise was going to work, so it was a numbers game to try it out.' On the process, Aganovic explained: 'The actual specimens are small little snippets brought back to the lab and they undergo a series of chemical reactions to degrade them and ensure that all that's left is the DNA.' Part of the data that first emerged was very raw, Aganovic said. 'It smelled like something went through a lawnmower, because you're getting everything — not just the fragrant petals, you're getting the plant's stem, the leaves, who knows what… You don't just get the genetics for the flower in the petal, right? It's all of the genetics.' In other words, recreating an extinct bloom's scent is not, Aganovic points out, an exact science. Not least because scent is highly complex; for example, a jasmine flower or a rose is composed of hundreds — if not thousands — of different scent molecules and chemical compounds. 'We can draw an analogy to our own genetics,' explained Aganovic. 'We carry two copies of genes, one from our biological father, one from our biological mother, but even though our body carries those genes, it doesn't express both. What the body chooses to express is exactly the nuance here.' When the extinct plant DNA was sequenced, many different genes for the scent molecules were exposed — but not all 'turned on' when they were put into yeast, a living organism, she said. 'That narrowed down the olfactory profile and gave more confidence around the direction that the physical flower went in.' This fragrance company is trying to recreate the scent of extinct blooms The fragrances have evocative names such as Grassland Opera and Invisible Woods. (Erik Jacobs/Future Society via CNN Newsource) Technology with a human touch While Aganovic and her team were left with this genetic evidence, there was still work to do to interpret it. 'Having the DNA in yeast doesn't brew this beautiful, fine fragrance, it just gives us the scent profile. The actual blending and composition relies on perfumers' existing notes and compounds from their own libraries,' Aganovic explained. Future Society does not use the DNA to regrow the extinct blooms. There are also scant — and subjective — records available. If no one living has experienced the flower first-hand, how does Future Society determine which flowers warrant a fragrance? 'This is what I really love about this work,' said Aganovic, who is a scientist by training but has been working in the beauty industry since 2014. 'It wasn't just down to the arrogance of science. While we had the data, we actually relied on different areas of expertise including perfumers and their knowledge of aroma chemicals and botany to look at the lineage of these plants, what living plants they were related to, where they were growing and what their environment was like… These elements all gave hints to how we might reconstruct the smell through a mixture of art and science.' Indeed, Future Society worked with perfumers from famed scent houses Givaudan (which Arcaea also counts as an investor, alongside Chanel and Olaplex) and Robertet to source a mixture of fragrance notes — synthetic, natural, and bioengineered — inspired by the scent molecules of the extinct flowers to create the blends. The resulting scents are, according to the brand's website, 'tributes to' what the plants could have smelled like. Storytelling through scent Future Society worked with three different perfumers for their recreated scents, each of whom viewed the data through their own unique lens. Olivia Jan, who worked on the Grassland Opera fragrance imagined the scent of the herbaceous orbexilum stipulatum flower. 'The Orbexilum stipulatum flower grew near a waterfall, so I tried to make something wet, green, and lush,' Jan told Harper's Bazaar USA in 2023. Perfumer Daniela Andrier, who formulated two fragrances for Future Society, wanted to tell the story of extinction from the perspective of the Earth. The Reclaimed Flame scent is a tribute to South Africa's extinct Leucadendron grandiflorum, which last bloomed in 1960, while Invisible Woods focuses on India's extinct Wendlandia angustifolia, which went extinct in 1917 due to drought. '(Andrier's) palette of ingredients relied on earthy, herbal ingredients because that was the feeling she wanted to evoke,' explained Aganovic. Meanwhile, Jérôme Epinette formulated three fragrances, including the bestselling scent Solar Canopy, which is based on the hibiscadelphus wilderianus, a hibiscus flower from Hawaii which died out in 1912 due to deforestation. Epinette was fascinated by time travel, and wanted the wearer to feel like they were there with the flower in the forest or on the mountain. 'From the DNA data, we knew there were some earthy tones in there, hence the fragrance has vetiver (the scent of which some liken to dry grass or wet woods), but there were also some juicier, fruitier things — elements of lychee, some magnolia, some sour notes too,' added Aganovic. While portions of the technology used in these projects are similar to the work being done by companies such as Colossal (who in April claimed to have brought the dire wolf back from extinction), Aganovic is keen to keep her distance. 'We are not fully resurrecting these flowers. We are a beauty company focused on self expression through personal scent, and I know that it's not sexy like, 'oh, we brought back the wolves,' but I think it's important to acknowledge,' she said. 'This de-extinction stuff (makes me) feel uneasy because… I definitely get whiffs of 'in the future, we will just de-extinct things,'' Aganovic continued. 'We can't be so arrogant to think we can just 'science' our way out of our problems, because sure, you know, technology means we can bring species back, but what we can't bring back is the relationship that certain populations had with that plant. Ultimately the human relationship with our environment is not just copy pasteable.' By Nicole Mowbray, CNN
Time of India
3 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
Smelling the impossible: How scientists are bottling the lost scents of extinct flowers
Imagine spritzing on a fragrance that no living human has ever smelled—a scent lost to time, reborn through the marvels of modern science. This is not science fiction, but the bold reality crafted by Future Society , a US-based biotech fragrance company that's turning the impossible into a wearable experience. The Jurassic Park of Perfume Partnering with Harvard University Herbaria , which houses over five million plant specimens, Future Society has sequenced the DNA of plants extinct for more than a century and a half. Using fragments from these long-lost blooms, their team has managed to reconstruct six unique perfumes—each a tribute to a vanished floral world. Take orbexilum stipulatum , for example—a flowering herb that last bloomed in 1881 on Rock Island in the Ohio River. Its extinction followed the disappearance of buffalo, which once spread its seeds, and was sealed when dams flooded its habitat. Now, thanks to DNA extracted from preserved specimens, its scent—green, lush, and tinged with watery notes—has been reimagined for the modern nose. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play War Thunder now for free War Thunder Play Now Undo 'We utilized this technology… to offer a glimpse into the fragrances that these extinct flowers may have produced,' said Jasmina Aganovic , CEO of Future Society. 'Our goal was to create scents that have never been experienced before, fragrances that were previously unattainable.' The process is part genealogy, part olfactory detective work: DNA is extracted, genes linked to scent molecules are identified, and then perfumers interpret the data, blending natural, synthetic, and bioengineered notes. Aganovic is clear: 'We are not fully reviving these flowers… The human connection to our environment cannot be replicated or easily restored'. Yet, with each bottle, Future Society invites us to time-travel through scent—reminding us that, with enough curiosity and ingenuity, even the fragrances of the extinct can bloom again. Live Events The resulting fragrances are described as 'tributes' rather than exact replicas. Each is a creative leap—a blend of what science reveals and what artistry imagines. Perfumer Olivia Jan , for instance, designed 'Grassland Opera' to evoke the lush, wet environment where orbexilum once thrived. Others, like 'Solar Canopy' and 'Invisible Woods,' draw on extinct flowers from South Africa and India, layering earthy, herbal, and fruity notes to tell the story of loss and rediscovery.
CNN
3 days ago
- Business
- CNN
This fragrance company is trying to recreate the scent of extinct blooms
What do you get when you combine a team of scientists, a lab specializing in sequencing DNA and some extinct species? While the answer could be the plot of 'Jurassic Park,' these are actually the foundations of Future Society, a biotech fragrance company that has changed the landscape of scent by conjuring extinct flowers. Working together with the Harvard University Herbaria — home to over five million botanical specimens — Future Society has successfully sequenced the genetic codes of preserved plants, some of which date back more than 150 years. Six of them have already been made into perfumes, with signature notes ranging from the green to woody and floral. Take the orbexilum stipulatum, a herbaceous, flowering plant that grew on Rock Island in the shallowest part of the old Falls of the Ohio and is last known to have flowered in 1881. The plant is thought to have been wiped out after the eradication of buffalo that used to migrate through the area, meaning its seeds were no longer dispersed far and wide. Then in the 1920s, the entire area was flooded by dams, submerging all hope for it. We used this technology… to provide a glimpse into what these extinct flowers might have smelled like. Future Society founder and CEO Jasmina Aganovic 'We set out to make scents we've never smelled before and fragrances that were previously not possible to make,' said Jasmina Aganovic, founder and CEO of Future Society and its parent company Arcaea, in a video interview with CNN. The six fragrances, Aganovic explained, have been made possible by DNA sequencing. 'It's similar (to the) technology that was used on and 23andme whereby users spit into a tube, send it away and wait to find out about their genetics,' she said. 'We used this technology on preserved plant specimens from extinct flowers, searching for scent molecules which started to provide a glimpse into what these extinct flowers might have smelled like.' Aganovic didn't set out with a grand plan for a certain flower she was desperate to smell, but wanted to demonstrate how new biological advancements could be used in the beauty sector. In a 'not very romantic' fashion, the Future Society team looked at how many specimens existed in the Harvard University Herbaria, how many samples they could get and which of those would be reconstructible, because DNA degrades over time, she said. 'Ultimately we didn't know if this de-extincting exercise was going to work, so it was a numbers game to try it out.' On the process, Aganovic explained: 'The actual specimens are small little snippets brought back to the lab and they undergo a series of chemical reactions to degrade them and ensure that all that's left is the DNA.' Part of the data that first emerged was very raw, Aganovic said. 'It smelled like something went through a lawnmower, because you're getting everything — not just the fragrant petals, you're getting the plant's stem, the leaves, who knows what… You don't just get the genetics for the flower in the petal, right? It's all of the genetics.' In other words, recreating an extinct bloom's scent is not, Aganovic points out, an exact science. Not least because scent is highly complex; for example, a jasmine flower or a rose is composed of hundreds — if not thousands — of different scent molecules and chemical compounds. 'We can draw an analogy to our own genetics,' explained Aganovic. 'We carry two copies of genes, one from our biological father, one from our biological mother, but even though our body carries those genes, it doesn't express both. What the body chooses to express is exactly the nuance here.' When the extinct plant DNA was sequenced, many different genes for the scent molecules were exposed — but not all 'turned on' when they were put into yeast, a living organism, she said. 'That narrowed down the olfactory profile and gave more confidence around the direction that the physical flower went in.' While Aganovic and her team were left with this genetic evidence, there was still work to do to interpret it. 'Having the DNA in yeast doesn't brew this beautiful, fine fragrance, it just gives us the scent profile. The actual blending and composition relies on perfumers' existing notes and compounds from their own libraries,' Aganovic explained. Future Society does not use the DNA to regrow the extinct blooms. There are also scant — and subjective — records available. If no one living has experienced the flower first-hand, how does Future Society determine which flowers warrant a fragrance? 'This is what I really love about this work,' said Aganovic, who is a scientist by training but has been working in the beauty industry since 2014. 'It wasn't just down to the arrogance of science. While we had the data, we actually relied on different areas of expertise including perfumers and their knowledge of aroma chemicals and botany to look at the lineage of these plants, what living plants they were related to, where they were growing and what their environment was like… These elements all gave hints to how we might reconstruct the smell through a mixture of art and science.' Indeed, Future Society worked with perfumers from famed scent houses Givaudan (which Arcaea also counts as an investor, alongside Chanel and Olaplex) and Robertet to source a mixture of fragrance notes — synthetic, natural, and bioengineered — inspired by the scent molecules of the extinct flowers to create the blends. The resulting scents are, according to the brand's website, 'tributes to' what the plants could have smelled like. Future Society worked with three different perfumers for their recreated scents, each of whom viewed the data through their own unique lens. Olivia Jan, who worked on the Grassland Opera fragrance imagined the scent of the herbaceous orbexilum stipulatum flower. 'The Orbexilum stipulatum flower grew near a waterfall, so I tried to make something wet, green, and lush,' Jan told Harper's Bazaar USA in 2023. Perfumer Daniela Andrier, who formulated two fragrances for Future Society, wanted to tell the story of extinction from the perspective of the Earth. The Reclaimed Flame scent is a tribute to South Africa's extinct Leucadendron grandiflorum, which last bloomed in 1960, while Invisible Woods focuses on India's extinct Wendlandia angustifolia, which went extinct in 1917 due to drought. '(Andrier's) palette of ingredients relied on earthy, herbal ingredients because that was the feeling she wanted to evoke,' explained Aganovic. Meanwhile, Jérôme Epinette formulated three fragrances, including the bestselling scent Solar Canopy, which is based on the hibiscadelphus wilderianus, a hibiscus flower from Hawaii which died out in 1912 due to deforestation. Epinette was fascinated by time travel, and wanted the wearer to feel like they were there with the flower in the forest or on the mountain. 'From the DNA data, we knew there were some earthy tones in there, hence the fragrance has vetiver (the scent of which some liken to dry grass or wet woods), but there were also some juicier, fruitier things — elements of lychee, some magnolia, some sour notes too,' added Aganovic. While portions of the technology used in these projects are similar to the work being done by companies such as Colossal (who in April claimed to have brought the dire wolf back from extinction), Aganovic is keen to keep her distance. 'We are not fully resurrecting these flowers. We are a beauty company focused on self expression through personal scent, and I know that it's not sexy like, 'oh, we brought back the wolves,' but I think it's important to acknowledge,' she said. 'This de-extinction stuff (makes me) feel uneasy because… I definitely get whiffs of 'in the future, we will just de-extinct things,'' Aganovic continued. 'We can't be so arrogant to think we can just 'science' our way out of our problems, because sure, you know, technology means we can bring species back, but what we can't bring back is the relationship that certain populations had with that plant. Ultimately the human relationship with our environment is not just copy pasteable.'
CNN
3 days ago
- Business
- CNN
This fragrance company is trying to recreate the scent of extinct blooms
What do you get when you combine a team of scientists, a lab specializing in sequencing DNA and some extinct species? While the answer could be the plot of 'Jurassic Park,' these are actually the foundations of Future Society, a biotech fragrance company that has changed the landscape of scent by conjuring extinct flowers. Working together with the Harvard University Herbaria — home to over five million botanical specimens — Future Society has successfully sequenced the genetic codes of preserved plants, some of which date back more than 150 years. Six of them have already been made into perfumes, with signature notes ranging from the green to woody and floral. Take the orbexilum stipulatum, a herbaceous, flowering plant that grew on Rock Island in the shallowest part of the old Falls of the Ohio and is last known to have flowered in 1881. The plant is thought to have been wiped out after the eradication of buffalo that used to migrate through the area, meaning its seeds were no longer dispersed far and wide. Then in the 1920s, the entire area was flooded by dams, submerging all hope for it. We used this technology… to provide a glimpse into what these extinct flowers might have smelled like. Future Society founder and CEO Jasmina Aganovic 'We set out to make scents we've never smelled before and fragrances that were previously not possible to make,' said Jasmina Aganovic, founder and CEO of Future Society and its parent company Arcaea, in a video interview with CNN. The six fragrances, Aganovic explained, have been made possible by DNA sequencing. 'It's similar (to the) technology that was used on and 23andme whereby users spit into a tube, send it away and wait to find out about their genetics,' she said. 'We used this technology on preserved plant specimens from extinct flowers, searching for scent molecules which started to provide a glimpse into what these extinct flowers might have smelled like.' Aganovic didn't set out with a grand plan for a certain flower she was desperate to smell, but wanted to demonstrate how new biological advancements could be used in the beauty sector. In a 'not very romantic' fashion, the Future Society team looked at how many specimens existed in the Harvard University Herbaria, how many samples they could get and which of those would be reconstructible, because DNA degrades over time, she said. 'Ultimately we didn't know if this de-extincting exercise was going to work, so it was a numbers game to try it out.' On the process, Aganovic explained: 'The actual specimens are small little snippets brought back to the lab and they undergo a series of chemical reactions to degrade them and ensure that all that's left is the DNA.' Part of the data that first emerged was very raw, Aganovic said. 'It smelled like something went through a lawnmower, because you're getting everything — not just the fragrant petals, you're getting the plant's stem, the leaves, who knows what… You don't just get the genetics for the flower in the petal, right? It's all of the genetics.' In other words, recreating an extinct bloom's scent is not, Aganovic points out, an exact science. Not least because scent is highly complex; for example, a jasmine flower or a rose is composed of hundreds — if not thousands — of different scent molecules and chemical compounds. 'We can draw an analogy to our own genetics,' explained Aganovic. 'We carry two copies of genes, one from our biological father, one from our biological mother, but even though our body carries those genes, it doesn't express both. What the body chooses to express is exactly the nuance here.' When the extinct plant DNA was sequenced, many different genes for the scent molecules were exposed — but not all 'turned on' when they were put into yeast, a living organism, she said. 'That narrowed down the olfactory profile and gave more confidence around the direction that the physical flower went in.' While Aganovic and her team were left with this genetic evidence, there was still work to do to interpret it. 'Having the DNA in yeast doesn't brew this beautiful, fine fragrance, it just gives us the scent profile. The actual blending and composition relies on perfumers' existing notes and compounds from their own libraries,' Aganovic explained. Future Society does not use the DNA to regrow the extinct blooms. There are also scant — and subjective — records available. If no one living has experienced the flower first-hand, how does Future Society determine which flowers warrant a fragrance? 'This is what I really love about this work,' said Aganovic, who is a scientist by training but has been working in the beauty industry since 2014. 'It wasn't just down to the arrogance of science. While we had the data, we actually relied on different areas of expertise including perfumers and their knowledge of aroma chemicals and botany to look at the lineage of these plants, what living plants they were related to, where they were growing and what their environment was like… These elements all gave hints to how we might reconstruct the smell through a mixture of art and science.' Indeed, Future Society worked with perfumers from famed scent houses Givaudan (which Arcaea also counts as an investor, alongside Chanel and Olaplex) and Robertet to source a mixture of fragrance notes — synthetic, natural, and bioengineered — inspired by the scent molecules of the extinct flowers to create the blends. The resulting scents are, according to the brand's website, 'tributes to' what the plants could have smelled like. Future Society worked with three different perfumers for their recreated scents, each of whom viewed the data through their own unique lens. Olivia Jan, who worked on the Grassland Opera fragrance imagined the scent of the herbaceous orbexilum stipulatum flower. 'The Orbexilum stipulatum flower grew near a waterfall, so I tried to make something wet, green, and lush,' Jan told Harper's Bazaar USA in 2023. Perfumer Daniela Andrier, who formulated two fragrances for Future Society, wanted to tell the story of extinction from the perspective of the Earth. The Reclaimed Flame scent is a tribute to South Africa's extinct Leucadendron grandiflorum, which last bloomed in 1960, while Invisible Woods focuses on India's extinct Wendlandia angustifolia, which went extinct in 1917 due to drought. '(Andrier's) palette of ingredients relied on earthy, herbal ingredients because that was the feeling she wanted to evoke,' explained Aganovic. Meanwhile, Jérôme Epinette formulated three fragrances, including the bestselling scent Solar Canopy, which is based on the hibiscadelphus wilderianus, a hibiscus flower from Hawaii which died out in 1912 due to deforestation. Epinette was fascinated by time travel, and wanted the wearer to feel like they were there with the flower in the forest or on the mountain. 'From the DNA data, we knew there were some earthy tones in there, hence the fragrance has vetiver (the scent of which some liken to dry grass or wet woods), but there were also some juicier, fruitier things — elements of lychee, some magnolia, some sour notes too,' added Aganovic. While portions of the technology used in these projects are similar to the work being done by companies such as Colossal (who in April claimed to have brought the dire wolf back from extinction), Aganovic is keen to keep her distance. 'We are not fully resurrecting these flowers. We are a beauty company focused on self expression through personal scent, and I know that it's not sexy like, 'oh, we brought back the wolves,' but I think it's important to acknowledge,' she said. 'This de-extinction stuff (makes me) feel uneasy because… I definitely get whiffs of 'in the future, we will just de-extinct things,'' Aganovic continued. 'We can't be so arrogant to think we can just 'science' our way out of our problems, because sure, you know, technology means we can bring species back, but what we can't bring back is the relationship that certain populations had with that plant. Ultimately the human relationship with our environment is not just copy pasteable.'
Daily Maverick
16-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
AI policies in Africa: lessons from Ghana and Rwanda
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing productivity and pushing the boundaries of what's possible. It powers self-driving cars, social media feeds, fraud detection and medical diagnoses. Touted as a game changer, it is projected to add nearly US$15.7 trillion to the global economy by the end of the decade. Africa is positioned to use this technology in several sectors. In Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, AI-led digital tools in use include drones for farm management, X-ray screening for tuberculosis diagnosis, and real-time tracking systems for packages and shipments. All these are helping to fill gaps in accessibility, efficiency and decision-making. However, it also introduces risks. These include biased algorithms, resource and labour exploitation, and e-waste disposal. The lack of a robust regulatory framework in many parts of the continent increases these challenges, leaving vulnerable populations exposed to exploitation. Limited public awareness and infrastructure further complicate the continent's ability to harness AI responsibly. What are African countries doing about it? To answer this, my research mapped out what Ghana and Rwanda had in place as AI policies and investigated how these policies were developed. I looked for shared principles and differences in approach to governance and implementation. The research shows that AI policy development is not a neutral or technical process but a profoundly political one. Power dynamics, institutional interests and competing visions of technological futures shape AI regulation. I conclude from my findings that AI's potential to bring great change in Africa is undeniable. But its benefits are not automatic. Rwanda and Ghana show that effective policy-making requires balancing innovation with equity, global standards with local needs, and state oversight with public trust. The question is not whether Africa can harness AI, but how and on whose terms. How they did it Rwanda's National AI Policy emerged from consultations with local and global actors. These included the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, the Rwandan Space Agency, and NGOs like the Future Society, and the GIZ FAIR Forward. The resulting policy framework is in line with Rwanda's goals for digital transformation, economic diversification and social development. It includes international best practices such as ethical AI, data protection, and inclusive AI adoption. Ghana's Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations conducted multi-stakeholder workshops to develop a national strategy for digital transformation and innovation. Start-ups, academics, telecom companies and public-sector institutions came together and the result is Ghana's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2023–2033. Both countries have set up or plan to set up Responsible AI offices. This aligns with global best practices for ethical AI. Rwanda focuses on local capacity building and data sovereignty. This reflects the country's post-genocide emphasis on national control and social cohesion. Similarly, Ghana's proposed office focuses on accountability, though its structure is still under legislative review. Ghana and Rwanda have adopted globally recognised ethical principles like privacy protection, bias mitigation and human rights safeguards. Rwanda's policy reflects Unesco's AI ethics recommendations and Ghana emphasises 'trustworthy AI'. Both policies frame AI as a way to reach the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Rwanda's policy targets applications in healthcare, agriculture, poverty reduction and rural service delivery. Similarly, Ghana's strategy highlights the potential to advance economic growth, environmental sustainability and inclusive digital transformation. Key policy differences Rwanda's policy ties data control to national security. This is rooted in its traumatic history of identity-based violence. Ghana, by contrast, frames AI as a tool for attracting foreign investment rather than a safeguard against state fragility. The policies also differ in how they manage foreign influence. Rwanda has a 'defensive' stance towards global tech powers; Ghana's is 'accommodative'. Rwanda works with partners that allow it to follow its own policy. Ghana, on the other hand, embraces partnerships, viewing them as the start of innovation. While Rwanda's approach is targeted and problem-solving, Ghana's strategy is expansive, aiming for large-scale modernisation and private-sector growth. Through state-led efforts, Rwanda focuses on using AI to solve immediate challenges such as rural healthcare access and food security. In contrast, Ghana looks at using AI more widely – in finance, transport, education and governance – to become a regional tech hub. Constraints and solutions The effectiveness of these AI policies is held back by broader systemic challenges. The US and China dominate in setting global standards, so local priorities get sidelined. For example, while Rwanda and Ghana advocate for ethical AI, it's hard for them to hold multinational corporations accountable for breaches. Energy shortages further complicate large-scale AI adoption. Training models require reliable electricity – a scarce resource in many parts of the continent. To address these gaps, I propose the following: Investments in digital infrastructure, education and local start-ups to reduce dependency on foreign tech giants. African countries must shape international AI governance forums. They must ensure policies reflect continental realities, not just western or Chinese ones. This will include using collective bargaining power through the African Union to bring Africa's development needs to the fore. It could also help with digital sovereignty issues and equitable access to AI technologies. Finally, AI policies must embed African ethical principles. These should include communal rights and post-colonial sensitivities. DM
