AI for Solving SDGs: A Trend Analysis of Public Interest in Sustainable Development Goals and Artificial Intelligence in Africa

  • Kabir Opeyemi Olorede
    Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, P.M.B. 1530, Kwara State University,Kwara State University kabir.olorede[at]kwasu.edu.ng
  • Abejide Ade-Ibijola
    AI Research Group, GRIT Lab Africa, South Africa

Abstract

This work explores the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Africa, focusing on public interest in AI and SDGs in addressing the continent’s unique developmental challenges. Using Google Trends Explore (GTE) data, we analyse AI and SDGs search interest across African countries over a nine-year period from September 2015 to August 2024. We investigate relative AI adoption indices for solving the SDGs, the current adoption readiness rankings, and the differences in regional trends across Africa. We employ Croston’s intermittent time series trend forecast estimation method, agglomerative hierarchical clustering on principal components, and visual analytics to extract empirical insights from monthly AI- and SDGs-related relative GTE search interest across African regions. The study highlights regional disparities in search trends, with the Southern, Western, Eastern, Northern, and Central African regions ranking first through fifth on their current adoption readiness rankings for solving SDGs with AI. The current differences in regional trends across the African regions are multi-dimensional. They can be better simplified by supplementing the GTE search data with additional indicators and economic drivers such as GDP per capita, digital literacy rates, internet penetration, and national policy frameworks on AI and sustainable development in future analyses.
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