As Ghanaian businesses are being encouraged to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve productivity, cybersecurity officials are warning that the rush to adopt the technology could expose corporate data and intellectual property if companies do not understand how the tools they use handle information.
Mr. Stephen Cudjoe-Seshie, Deputy Director-General of the Cyber Security Authority (CSA), said Ghana’s AI adoption is likely to accelerate sharply over the next decade, but argued that businesses must distinguish between using AI and using it safely.
“You can use AI to improve your business, but you need to be aware of the safeguards that come with the particular tool you are using,” he said.
The warning comes as Ghana moves from discussing artificial intelligence as an emerging technology to implementing it as part of its economic and digital transformation agenda.
Ghana launched its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy in April 2026, with the government positioning AI as a tool for productivity, innovation, and development across sectors including agriculture, healthcare, education, finance, and public services.
For businesses, however, the immediate opportunity is also creating a new information-security challenge.
Employees are using consumer AI tools to write documents, analyse information, generate ideas, and automate routine tasks. The risk arises when confidential business information is entered into a platform without the organisation understanding how that data is treated.
Mr.Cudjoe-Seshie gave the example of an employee using a personal account on an AI service to process internal company information.
“The danger is you may have transferred some intellectual property or some internal information which should not be out there into that system,” he said.
The risk is more pronounced among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), where AI tools may be adopted informally without clear policies governing what business information employees can share with them.
The technology can improve efficiency while creating a new route through which commercially sensitive information leaves the company’s controlled environment.
Mr. Cudjoe-Seshie said businesses therefore need to examine the terms and conditions of the AI tools they use and consider enterprise-grade products where stronger safeguards are available.
“If you feel that you need certain tools, then you need a corporate account which gives you certain safeguards,” he said.
The distinction matters because Ghana’s broader AI ambitions depend heavily on the quality and security of data.
The National AI Strategy identifies data as a national asset and calls for stronger data governance alongside investment in computing infrastructure and talent.
Yet Mr.Cudjoe-Seshie sees another structural issue: Ghana is currently more of a consumer of foreign AI models than a developer of systems designed around its own economic and social environment.
“Right now, we are mostly using other people’s models, which has its dangers,” he said.
The concern is that models developed and trained predominantly on data from other jurisdictions may not always perform appropriately when applied to Ghanaian businesses, consumers, and institutions.
“Many of the models we rely on are based on data from other jurisdictions,” he said. “So the chances of things going wrong are significant.”
That creates a case for greater investment in local research and development, particularly within Ghanaian universities and technical institutions.
Mr.Cudjoe-Seshie said Ghana would need to push universities towards developing models and systems that better reflect the country’s own ecosystem.
The government’s AI strategy already places talent development and research among its priorities.
AI can reduce administrative workloads, accelerate analysis, and improve decision-making, but those gains need to be balanced against data protection, cybersecurity, and intellectual-property risks.
The regulatory environment is also evolving.
Ghana’s Data Protection Commission currently operates under the Data Protection Act, 2012, while proposed reforms are expected to take account of developments such as AI.
Mr.Cudjoe-Seshie said emerging technologies, including AI, are being considered as part of the ongoing legislative revisions.
The CSA itself is also preparing for AI-related security risks, he said, including attacks that use artificial intelligence to increase the speed or sophistication of cybercrime.
That means the AI transition is likely to create two parallel markets: one for businesses seeking productivity gains and another for technologies, skills, and compliance systems designed to make those gains safer.
Ghanaian businesses can benefit from AI, but the technology needs to be adopted with greater awareness of data security and privacy. As more companies integrate AI into their operations, understanding how these tools handle business information will become essential for protecting sensitive company data and intellectual property.
