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Google, in a recent blog post, announced that it will open an artificial intelligence (AI) research centre in Africa, its first on the continent.

Staff Research Scientist and Lead of Google AI centre, Moustapha Cisse, and Senior Fellow at Google AI, Jeff Dean, wrote last week that the research centre will open later this year in Accra, Ghana.

“We’ll bring together top machine learning researchers and engineers in this new centre dedicated to AI research and its applications,” the duo stated. “We’re excited to combine our research interests in AI and machine learning and our experience in Africa to push the boundaries of AI while solving challenges in areas such as healthcare, agriculture, and education.”

Ten million Africans, according to the blog post, will benefit from the digital skills training programme with 2 million people having already completed the course, and 100,000 developers and over 60 tech start-ups are being supported through the Launchpad Accelerator Africa.

While Google has had offices in Africa over the past 10 years, this decision to open an AI research centre is a first of its kind for the Silicon Valley giant in Africa.

Accra, a West African city, joins Paris, New York and Tokyo, as well as Google’s Mountain View headquarters, in housing AI research centre.

Ghana likely appealed to Google because of the quality of its education system and other feeder institutions, Lucy James, an Associate Consultant with Control Risks’ Africa team, told CNBC. The search company is focused on “drawing in local talent and there’s no shortage of that in Ghana,” she said.

James explained that Ghana also enjoys relative political stability.
Meanwhile, its neighbour Nigeria – the continent’s largest economy which also promotes business centre Lagos as a burgeoning tech hub – is more prone to civil unrest.

However, according to the World Bank’s latest Ease of Doing Business index, Ghana ranks 12th in the Sub-Saharan Africa.

But, Ghana’s pro-business government and entrepreneurial society may have contributed to its selection. People in Ghana share the “sense that you can disrupt something and make a difference,” James explained.