By Jonathan Enudeme

Harnessing AI’s power today—the “electricity” of the twenty-first century—requires four
cognate inputs: abundant data, hungry entrepreneurs, AI scientists, and an AI-friendly
policy environment. By examining the relative strengths of China and the United States
in these four categories, we can predict the emerging balance of power in the AI world
order.

Let us dissect these individual four pillars.

Abundant Data
Abundant data is the lifeblood of AI, serving as the foundational element upon which
models are trained and refined. The availability and quality of data significantly influence
a nation’s capacity to develop and implement AI solutions. In the global AI landscape,
countries like China and the United States have leveraged vast data resources to
establish themselves as leaders. Nigeria must address its data infrastructure challenges
to harness the full potential of AI technologies.

China’s ascent in the AI domain is largely attributed to its vast population and the
extensive data generated from its digital ecosystem. The nation’s approach to data
collection is less constrained by privacy regulations, allowing for the accumulation of
massive datasets that fuel AI research and applications. This data abundance has
enabled Chinese companies to develop sophisticated AI models, such as DeepSeek’s
R1 and Qwen, which have been the talk of the town recently. It is almost safe to say that
China is leading the AI supremacy race as they had predicted in 2017 after the loss to
American AlphaGo in the national game of Go.

If Nigeria is to advance this technology, it must develop a good data strategy from local
government to state and federal levels.

Hungry Entrepreneurs
There is a popular saying in Nigeria – “if you visit an area where there are no Igbos, that
area is not good for business.” – What this simply means is that the entrepreneurial spirit
of the Igbo people drives business and development. Similarly, entrepreneurs drive AI
innovation by building startups, developing applications, and commercializing research.

The U.S. leads in this area due to its strong venture capital ecosystem, tech incubators,
and culture of innovation. The Chinese startup ecosystem is largely state-supported,
thus fostering a dynamic AI startup environment. Nigeria has a vibrant entrepreneurial
spirit, particularly in fintech and e-commerce, but AI-focused startups remain limited.

The United States’ president, Donald Trump, recently announced a 500 billion dollar
investment in an AI company called Stargate. This American company will be charged
with building AI infrastructure for America, creating over 100,000 jobs. This collaboration
is between entrepreneurs like Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, Masayoshi Son, CEO of
Softbank, and Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, a host of other entrepreneurs, and the US
government.

When entrepreneurs build AI products to solve real problems, this will motivate
investors and the government to invest in the technology.

AI Scientist
Deep-learning pioneers like Andrew Ng, Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun, and Yoshua
Bengio—the frontiers of deep learning—continue to push the boundaries of artificial
intelligence. Scientists are at the forefront of research and development. Quoting Kai-Fu
Lee’s book AI Superpowers, “A recent tally of citations at global research institutions
confirmed the trend. That ranking of the one hundred most-cited research institutions on
AI from 2012 to 2016 showed China ranking second only to the United States. Among
the elite institutions, Tsinghua University even outnumbered places like Stanford
University in total AI citations.”

We don’t rank among the top researchers in AI because Nigeria’s education system
does not focus on core research. It is a hydra-headed problem.
We need this foundational pillar to compete in the global AI race, but at the moment, my
judgment is that achieving this is a far cry.

AI-friendly policy environment
A conducive policy environment is crucial for AI growth. Countries that have excelled in
AI have implemented policies that encourage innovation while ensuring ethical AI
development. During the RegTech conference in 2024, I moderated the panel on AI
policy and trust, the discussions centered on the importance of regulatory frameworks in
AI governance.

For Nigeria to establish itself as a key player in AI, the government must create policies
that support AI entrepreneurship, attract investments, and address ethical concerns.
Policies should focus on:
Data Protection Laws: Establishing clear guidelines on data collection and usage.
(NDPA)

Ethical AI Development: Implementing policies that prevent AI misuse and biases.
Principles for AI safety governance: Commit to a vision of common, comprehensive,
cooperative, and sustainable security while putting equal emphasis on development and security

Jonathan is a driving force behind democratizing AI in Africa, empowering thousands with in-demand AI skills as Founder and CEO of Zummit Africa and co-founder and CEO of Datarango. With over 4 years of experience as an AI developer, he brings technical expertise to his mission, while also shaping the ethical landscape of AI as a board member with the Nigerian branch of the International Law Association.