Following the recommendations of the member states at the Forum on AI in Africa on 12-13 December 2018 in Morocco, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched a survey to assess artificial intelligence (AI) related capacity building needs of member states in Africa. The purpose of the survey is to examine national priorities as well as the current stages of national AI policy development and human and institutional capacity gaps that need to be addressed by member states to respond to the challenges and opportunities of AI for sustainable development. The survey, which is part of UNESCO's Global Priority Africa strategy, which has been designed within the framework of the 'UN system-wide strategic approach and road map for supporting capacity development on artificial intelligence'. It is based on the African Union Agenda 2063 priorities as discussed in the UNESCO report 'Steering AI and Advanced ICTs for Knowledge Societies'.