AFRICAN governments are positioning artificial intelligence as a new pillar of industrial policy, using clusters, regulation, and talent systems to build domestic tech production capacity. Algeria’s launch of an AI and cybersecurity startup cluster signals how this shift is beginning to translate into coordinated pipelines that could determine how Africa builds, rather than imports, artificial intelligence. “What’s changing is that countries are beginning to design the entire pipeline, from research to company creation, rather than leaving it to evolve organically,” according to James Karumwa, a Kigali-based independent tech expert. The framing positions the initiative as part of a broader push…