Fellow Ugandans,
In a previous column, I argued that Uganda’s transformation privileges science at the expense of the humanities. Nowhere is this clearer than in the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as we head toward the 2026 elections. AI is reshaping political life globally. In China, it monitors citizens through facial recognition. In the United States, it micro-targets voters. Across Africa, governments are experimenting with AI-driven policing, while activists quietly explore its power to organise. Uganda is no exception.
On the surface, AI promises efficiency. Electoral rolls can be digitised, results tallied faster, and voting secured. If governed well, AI might strengthen transparency. But the same tools can be turned inward against citizens. Algorithms can scan social media for ‘subversive’ content, track activists, and predict protests.
AI does not just watch dissent; it anticipates it. Protests could be disrupted before they begin, leaders profiled before they speak. Ironically, AI can also serve the opposite purpose. It can map safe routes for protesters, generate slogans, and spread messages faster than any organiser. Imagine citizens receiving real-time alerts on police movements or encrypted AI-generated strategies to outmanoeuvre surveillance. AI is not just a tool of control; it may also amplify resistance.
This duality reveals the deeper challenge. AI is not inherently good or bad; its meaning depends on who controls it.
For Uganda, the danger lies in mistaking technological efficiency for political transformation. A society can be perfectly efficient and perfectly authoritarian at the same time. Here, the sidelining of social sciences becomes dangerous. Scientists may build algorithms, but only philosophers, ethicists, and historians can ask the deeper questions: What happens to freedom of assembly when protests can be predicted? Who owns citizens’ data, and who profits from it?
As 2026 approaches, Uganda’s political transformation will not be shaped only by rallies and manifestos but also by invisible codes running beneath them.
If left solely to governments, AI may harden control. If seized thoughtfully by citizens, it could expand freedom. The real transformation is whether Ugandans choose to treat AI as a platform for fear – or for hope.