Nairobi, Aug. 6 -- Much of the debate about artificial intelligence (AI) is about chatbots and automation. That matters for individual firms, but the bigger opportunity is national. AI is not primarily a technology story. It is an economic one.

In 1965, financier Michael Milken sketched a formula for prosperity that still holds: P = Ft x (HC + SC + RA).

Prosperity is Financial Technology multiplying Human Capital, Social Capital and Real Assets-the skills of our people, the trust in our institutions, and the farms, factories, power and digital infrastructure they depend on.

The elegance is in one detail: Ft sits outside the bracket. It is not another asset. It is the multiplier.

Kenya's own history proves the point. In the 1960s and 7...