Benin has a composite score of 2.58 out of 4, in the Developing tier, at rank 3 of 54. The composite sits above the West Africa mean of 1.27 and the Africa mean of 1.33. The eight pillar scores are fellow-assigned values from the Regional Summary, and indicators are not scored. Strategy and Vision is the strongest pillar at 4.00 and Implementation and Impact is the weakest at 1.50. Desk research in October 2026, which fellows have not verified and which did not inform the scores, found a national AI and big data strategy approved by the Council of Ministers on 18 January 2023. It also found a Digital Code with a data protection authority, and no published implementation report.
P1Strategy & Vision4.00 / 4Established
Strategy and Vision scores 4.00, in the Established tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 found that the Council of Ministers approved the National Strategy for AI and Big Data 2023 to 2027 on 18 January 2023, with 4 programmes and 123 actions over three phases (S1.1, S1.2). The Ministry of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation supervises implementation (S1.3). Priority sectors are education, health, agriculture, living environment and tourism (S1.7). The strategy provides for annual evaluations, but no published monitoring report or completed review was found (S1.9, S1.10). The strategy puts financing at 4.68 billion FCFA, with no evidence of a ring-fenced appropriation (S1.4). Alignment with the African Union Continental AI Strategy was not determined (S1.5).
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P2Governance & Regulation2.50 / 4Developing
Governance and Regulation scores 2.50, in the Developing tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 found that Book V of the 2017 Digital Code and Law No. 2009-09 govern personal data, with the Autorite de Protection des Donnees Personnelles appointed (G2.2). The African Union status list dated 2 February 2026 records that Benin signed the Malabo Convention on 28 January 2015, ratified it on 14 May 2024 and deposited on 12 November 2024 (G2.7). The data protection regime applies to foreign entities (G2.9). The research did not determine any AI-specific law, AI oversight mandate for the authority, dedicated AI governance body or AI-related enforcement action (G2.1, G2.3, G2.5, G2.8).
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P3Infrastructure & Data2.40 / 4Developing
Infrastructure and Data scores 2.40, in the Developing tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 found 1 data centre facility listed in the Data Center Map directory (I3.1) and 1 cable landing point, Cotonou, carrying 3 international cable systems (I3.3). The national data centre, intended to host all State information systems, was inaugurated on 1 June 2021 (I3.10). The Digital Code permits transfers only to countries ensuring adequate protection, or with authorisation from the data protection authority (I3.8). The research confirmed that no hyperscaler cloud region exists in Benin (I3.5). It did not determine data centre power capacity, international bandwidth, GPU or high-performance computing capacity, or an in-country storage mandate (I3.2, I3.4, I3.6, I3.7).
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P4Human Capital2.20 / 4Developing
Human Capital scores 2.20, in the Developing tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 found 34 AI scholarly publications for 2024 in the CSET Country Activity Tracker, against 32 in 2023 (H4.4). The language lists checked support Fon and Yoruba, with partial support for Fulfulde, and do not list Bariba or Dendi (H4.10). The national strategy provides for capacity-building programmes, subject to feasibility studies approved on 8 November 2023 (H4.7). A feasibility study on programming and AI training in schools was approved the same day, with no implementation found (H4.6). The research did not determine AI researchers per million, university AI programmes, AI patent filings or any labour transition framework (H4.1, H4.3, H4.5, H4.8).
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P5Innovation & Ecosystem2.10 / 4Developing
Innovation and Ecosystem scores 2.10, in the Developing tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 found that the standards body, ANM, is one of 24 observing members of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42, the AI committee, with no voting role (N5.7, N5.8). No ISO/IEC 42001 certification or national adoption was found, and no dedicated national AI technical committee was verified (N5.7, N5.8). The other 8 indicators were not determined. The research could not read a count of AI companies (N5.1) and found no AI-specific investment figure (N5.2). It identified no AI-focused incubator count, regulatory sandbox, AI procurement rule, safety evaluation facility, risk assessment framework or university-industry AI partnership (N5.3, N5.4, N5.5, N5.6, N5.9, N5.10).
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P6Ethics & Inclusion2.40 / 4Developing
Ethics and Inclusion scores 2.40, in the Developing tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 found that Article 428 of the Digital Code requires a data protection impact analysis before high-risk processing, not an AI-specific assessment (E6.1). Article 401 bars decisions with legal effects taken solely on automated processing that evaluates aspects of personality (E6.3, E6.4). Benin is a Member State of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, whose 193 Member States adopted the Recommendation on the Ethics of AI in 2021 (E6.7). A text search confirmed that the national strategy makes no reference to Ubuntu or African ethical values (E6.9). Bias audit requirements, civil society engagement and court remedies were not determined (E6.2, E6.8, E6.5).
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P7Regional Integration3.10 / 4Established
Regional Integration scores 3.10, in the Established tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 found Benin on the official signatory list of the Africa Declaration on Artificial Intelligence, done at Kigali on 4 April 2025 (R7.1, R7.2). Article 576 of the Digital Code punishes unauthorised use of AI to modify, generate or disseminate a person's image with up to 5 years in prison and fines up to FCFA 25 million, and is not election-specific (R7.6). Benin is a member of the Economic Community of West African States, with no part in regional AI coordination documented (R7.3). The research did not determine cross-border AI agreements, election provisions, Geneva Dialogue participation or multilateral AI engagement (R7.4, R7.5, R7.9, R7.10).
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P8Implementation & Impact1.50 / 4Emerging
Implementation and Impact scores 1.50, in the Emerging tier, a fellow-assigned value and the lowest of the eight pillars. Desk research in October 2026 did not determine any of the 10 indicators. The national strategy carries an estimated budget of USD 7.8 m, and no disbursement data was found (M8.1). No monitoring report on the strategy was located (M8.5), and no government AI registry was found (M8.4). The strategy targets health, agriculture and education, but the research found no health-specific AI regulation, no agriculture-specific AI governance provisions and no education-ministry AI guidance (M8.2, M8.6, M8.8). No AI guidance from the Central Bank of West African States was located (M8.7). No documented AI-related protective outcome was found (M8.9).
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