Eritrea scores 0.08 out of 4 on the composite, in the Nascent tier, and ranks 54 of 54. The eight pillar scores are fellow-assigned values from the Regional Summary, and indicators are not scored. The strongest pillar is Human Capital at 0.30. Four pillars score 0.00: Governance and Regulation, Infrastructure and Data, Regional Integration, and Implementation and Impact. The composite sits below the East Africa mean of 1.30 and the Africa mean of 1.33. Desk research in October 2026, which fellows have not verified and which did not inform the scores, found no national AI strategy, no data protection law or authority and no submarine cable landing point.
P1Strategy & Vision0.10 / 4Nascent
Strategy and Vision scores 0.10, in the Nascent tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 left all 10 indicators not determined. It found no national AI strategy, policy or draft for Eritrea; the cross-country trackers consulted do not name Eritrea, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization observatory and government sites could not be checked, so absence is not confirmed (S1.1). No adoption date, senior political statement on AI or AI budget information was found (S1.2, S1.3, S1.4). No information was found on alignment with the African Union Continental AI Strategy or on AI policy consultation (S1.5, S1.6). With no strategy located, sector priorities, roadmap, monitoring and review are not assessable (S1.7, S1.8, S1.9, S1.10).
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P2Governance & Regulation0.00 / 4Nascent
Governance and Regulation scores 0.00, in the Nascent tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 confirmed four absences. A source dated May 2022 states that Eritrea has no data protection legislation and no data protection authority; no later enactment was found (G2.2, G2.3, G2.4). The African Union status list for the Malabo Convention dated 2 February 2026 records no signature, ratification or deposit for Eritrea (G2.7). The remaining indicators are not determined. No AI-specific bill or law, AI governance body or regulatory model was identified (G2.1, G2.5, G2.6). No AI-related enforcement action was located, and no review of intellectual property law for AI-generated content was found; in both cases absence is not confirmed (G2.8, G2.10).
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P3Infrastructure & Data0.00 / 4Nascent
Infrastructure and Data scores 0.00, in the Nascent tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 confirmed three absences. TeleGeography's dataset contains no landing point in Eritrea, and no in-service or planned international submarine cable lands there (I3.3). Official region lists checked on 6 October 2026 show no cloud region or zone in Eritrea (I3.5). Eritrea has no data protection law and no law restricting cross-border transfer (I3.8). The remaining indicators are not determined. Eritrea does not appear among the 43 countries in Data Center Map's Africa directory, which does not prove absence (I3.1). No figure for data centre capacity or international bandwidth was verified (I3.2, I3.4). No Eritrea system appears on the TOP500 list of June 2026 (I3.6).
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P4Human Capital0.30 / 4Nascent
Human Capital scores 0.30, in the Nascent tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 found evidence on two indicators. The CSET Country Activity Tracker counts 8 AI scholarly publications for 2024 and 4 for 2023 (H4.4). Tigrinya and Afar are supported in the translation tools checked; Tigre, Saho, Bilen, Kunama, Nara and Hedareb are not listed (H4.10). The other 8 indicators are not determined. No AI-specific count of researchers per million was found (H4.1). No source on university AI programmes or school computer science education was opened (H4.3, H4.6). No government AI training programme, labour transition framework or informal economy assessment was identified (H4.7, H4.8, H4.9). No count of AI patent filings was retrieved (H4.5).
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P5Innovation & Ecosystem0.10 / 4Nascent
Innovation and Ecosystem scores 0.10, in the Nascent tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 produced one firm finding, a confirmed absence: the national standards body ESI exists as an ISO correspondent member, but Eritrea is absent from the participating and observing member lists of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42 (N5.8). The other 9 indicators are not determined. No AI company count was found (N5.1). Partech's 2025 report implies Eritrea received less than US$50M in tech equity in 2025 (N5.2). No regulatory sandbox for Eritrea appears in the Open Bank Project Africa list (N5.4). No AI incubator count, safety evaluation facility, ISO/IEC 42001 certification or risk assessment framework was identified (N5.3, N5.6, N5.7, N5.9).
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P6Ethics & Inclusion0.10 / 4Nascent
Ethics and Inclusion scores 0.10, in the Nascent tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 confirmed one absence: with no data protection legislation and no data protection authority, Eritrea has no statutory right against solely automated decisions and no complaint route (E6.4). Eritrea is a Member State of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; it is not on the Paris AI Action Summit statement or the initial New Delhi Declaration endorser list (E6.7). The other 8 indicators are not determined. GIRAI 2026 does not cover Eritrea, and no impact assessment, bias audit or transparency requirement was found (E6.1, E6.2, E6.3). No AI advisory body, civil society mechanism or youth mechanism was located (E6.6, E6.8, E6.10).
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P7Regional Integration0.00 / 4Nascent
Regional Integration scores 0.00, in the Nascent tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 found Eritrea on the official signatory list of the Africa Declaration on Artificial Intelligence, done at Kigali on 4 April 2025 (R7.1, R7.2). No national implementation step citing the Declaration was found. Eritrea is a member of COMESA and CEN-SAD; it gave notice of withdrawal from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development on 12 December 2025 and remained a member at 30 June 2026 (R7.3). Eritrea is not on the Paris or initial New Delhi lists, and no other multilateral AI participation was found (R7.10). Cross-border agreements, election provisions, a disinformation framework and Geneva Dialogue participation are not determined (R7.4, R7.5, R7.6, R7.9).
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P8Implementation & Impact0.00 / 4Nascent
Implementation and Impact scores 0.00, in the Nascent tier, a fellow-assigned value. Desk research in October 2026 left all 10 indicators not determined. For 9 of them no source was located: no national AI strategy or sector AI instrument for Eritrea was identified, and no affirmative statement of absence was found (M8.1, M8.2, M8.4, M8.5, M8.9). These 9 cover budget disbursement, health AI regulation and device approvals, a government AI registry, monitoring reports, measurable outcomes, and sector governance in agriculture, financial services and education (M8.3, M8.6, M8.7, M8.8). No country-specific adoption of World Health Organization guidance on AI for health was found; the World Health Organization AFRO ethics workshops of 2021 and July 2023 do not list participants (M8.10).
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