Nairobi, July 28 -- Kenya seeks to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) models used in the country or affecting residents, even when the companies that own them do not have local operations.

A new proposal by the ICT Ministry extends the government's control to overseas tech firms such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Facebook's parent Meta, whose AI systems are increasingly being adopted by Kenyan businesses, government offices and private users.

It gives the government powers to hold tech firms accountable if their products, services, or data systems are accessed or used in Kenya, regardless of where the company is headquartered.

The regulatory model, technically referred to as extraterritorial jurisdiction, is similar to that adopted by...