Kenya’s Draft AI Policy Widens Regulatory Reach

Kenya has published the Draft Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies Policy, 2026 for public participation, marking another step in the country’s effort to establish a comprehensive governance framework for artificial intelligence.

Released by the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy following the launch of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2025–2030, the draft policy remains open for public comments until 4 August 2026.

While the policy does not create legally binding obligations, it outlines the government’s approach to regulating AI and proposes future legislative reforms that could integrate AI governance across Kenya’s broader legal and digital economy frameworks.

Broad jurisdiction beyond Kenya’s borders

One of the draft policy’s notable proposals is its extraterritorial scope.

The framework would apply not only to AI systems developed and deployed within Kenya, but also to foreign AI providers and related service providers whose systems are procured, accessed, deployed or relied upon in Kenya, or whose outputs have direct and foreseeable effects within the country.

The policy also proposes recognising compliance with substantially equivalent foreign regulatory regimes, although such recognition would be subject to an adequacy assessment by the Cabinet Secretary under criteria to be established through future regulations.

According to legal experts Ariana Issaias, Director, and Taria Khaoma, Associate, at Bowmans Kenya, the proposal reflects Kenya’s objective of maintaining oversight over AI systems, digital infrastructure and data that affect its jurisdiction.

Shared accountability across the AI value chain

The draft policy also proposes moving away from assigning responsibility to a single organisation.

Recognising that AI systems are often designed, deployed and operated by multiple parties, the policy indicates that future legislation will allocate liability and accountability across developers, deployers, operators, vendors and users.

The proposed framework also points to future requirements covering transparency, explainability, auditability, insurance and mechanisms for regulatory oversight and redress.

Sovereignty becomes a policy pillar

The draft policy introduces “Sovereignty and Strategic Autonomy” as one of its central pillars.

The proposal highlights concerns about Kenya’s reliance on foreign cloud infrastructure, compute resources and proprietary AI models, and outlines measures intended to strengthen domestic control over critical AI infrastructure.

These include data localisation requirements for sensitive datasets, a sovereign cloud strategy based on workload classification, and broader investment in domestic computing capacity, AI talent and regional digital infrastructure.

Governance beyond risk classification

Although the draft policy adopts a risk-based approach to AI regulation, it also proposes governance requirements covering the entire AI lifecycle.

The framework envisages future obligations relating to AI governance and accountability, incident reporting, human oversight, user protection, workforce safeguards, intellectual property, data governance and content moderation.

It also proposes measures aimed at addressing synthetic media, deepfakes and AI-generated content through transparency and authenticity requirements.

Next steps

The Draft Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies Policy does not itself create enforceable legal obligations. Instead, it sets out the government’s policy direction and provides the foundation for future legislation and implementing regulations.

For organisations developing, deploying or procuring AI systems, the draft offers an early indication of the governance, compliance and operational requirements that could emerge as Kenya develops its AI regulatory framework.

This analysis is based on commentary by Ariana Issaias, Director, and Taria Khaoma, Associate, Bowmans Kenya.