News & Updates
Latest media coverage, expert commentary, and developments in technology policy, AI governance, and Africa-China relations.
Recent Media & News
The chaos surrounding Anthropic's new model shows that the AI race needs global guardrails, not national barriers, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
June 17, 2026News
The US government is blocking the most powerful AI: a fatal signal. Companies need predictability. The world should address the risks of artificial intelligence together.
Read More →Interview: The largest conference on digital human rights was cancelled by Zambia – due to pressure from China, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
May 28, 2026News
Bulelani Jili is an expert on technology and relations between Africa and China. He explains how closely Zambia and China are linked – and what this has to do with digitalization and surveillance, which are spreading in many African countries.
Read More →Facial recognition, AI-driven surveillance: How China is exporting its toolkit to Africa, The Africa Report
May 28, 2026News
Complex technological architecture popularised by Huawei and ZTE is rapidly spreading across African cities, raising growing concerns about political monitoring, data control and the boundaries of state security.
Read More →De Dakar à Abidjan, comment la Chine exporte ses technologies de surveillance en Afrique, JeuneAfrica
May 23, 2026News
Caméras intelligentes, reconnaissance faciale, centres de commandement dopés à l’IA : les technologies chinoises de surveillance se déploient rapidement dans les métropoles africaines. Non sans susciter des inquiétudes sur les risques de surveillance politique et de contrôle des populations.
Read More →Chinese surveillance tech rolled out in Africa with ZTE, Hikvision and Huawei at the helm, South China Morning Post
April 4, 2026News
Across major African cities such as Nairobi, Lusaka, and Abuja, governments are using surveillance technologies and credit lines from China to monitor public spaces and curb crime, a new survey shows.
Read More →Invasive’ AI-led mass surveillance in Africa violating freedoms, warn experts, The Guardian
March 12, 2026News
Countries across the continent have spent more than $2bn on Chinese tracking technology that is not ‘necessary or proportionate’, new report finds
Read More →Africa emerges as new arena in US-China competition over artificial intelligence, South China Morning Post
March 5, 2026News
As China and the United States compete to shape the future of artificial intelligence, Africa’s rapidly expanding digital landscape is emerging as a new arena for their rivalry, far from the technology hubs of Silicon Valley or Shenzhen.
Read More →How China is building the hi-tech backbone of Africa’s space ambitions, South China Morning Post
February 24, 2026News
From a satellite ground station in Namibia to an Egyptian laboratory in orbit, China has been building the hi-tech backbone of Africa’s space ambitions.
Read More →U.S. Supreme Court Amicus brief in support of petitioner, Thaler v. Perlmutter
January 18, 2026News
Faculty Associates Larry Lessig and Bulelani Jili are among the amici curiae of a brief submitted to the US Supreme Court in Thaler v. Perlmutter, concerning an AI-generated work's eligibility for copyright protection. Read the brief.
Read More →China Gains African Influence With No-Strings Surveillance Tech, Bloomberg News
December 9, 2025News
The proliferation of Chinese Surveillance Tools into Africa
Read More →Expert Commentary
“He writes the most insightful work on these issues”
Eric Olander, Editor in Chief of the China-Global South Project
On Chinese surveillance technology in Africa
Previous Coverage
Chinese flying taxi takes to the skies in Africa as firms eye global roll-out, South China Morning Post
September 7, 2025News
A Chinese-made pilotless electric air taxi completed its first test flight in Rwanda this week, as China’s aviation firms rapidly go global
Africanising Chinese surveillance technology, East Asia Forum
May 30, 2025Publication
Local factors in African countries are often overlooked for their role in driving the adoption of Chinese surveillance technology. While Chinese loans and subsidies make Chinese technology attractive for many budget-constrained African nations, these states have often failed to introduce regulatory frameworks that adequately safeguard privacy and data protection. This enables surveillance technologies to be misused. There is a subsequent need for stronger data protection laws, ratification of African Union cybersecurity conventions and investment in technical capacity to address emerging digital governance challenges.
Read More →How India is using digital technology to project power, The Economist
July 4, 2023News
Narendra Modi sees his country’s digital public infrastructure as an Indian Belt and Road Initiative
Read More →Human brain cells on a chip make AI breakthrough, Financial Times
January 5, 2022News
Devices that incorporate human brain cells and computer chips could help scientists develop artificial intelligence systems
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