Africa must lead the revolution for responsible AI to avoid ‘automating inequality’ -by Tomiwo Ojo

The generative AI boom has undoubtedly made media and communications faster, but this speed comes with a dangerous trade-off: a new, fertile ground for misinformation and deception.

While artificial intelligence is revolutionising decision-making globally, in many African countries, like Nigeria, with fragile legal infrastructures and porous public sector databases, the risks can quickly outpace the benefits.

The core issue is governance.

The transformative potential of AI cannot be separated from the foundational need for strong ethical and legal frameworks. Without robust systems to govern the data that powers artificial intelligence—preventing failures in privacy, consent, and weak anonymisation—we risk automating inequality, weakening trust in institutions, and undermining hard-won digital rights.

Digital surveillance is on the rise, and the potential for AI to amplify existing societal biases is a real, immediate, and growing concern. Nigeria, as Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy, stands at the centre of this conversation. If we are to lead Africa’s digital future, we must also lead in the responsible governance of artificial intelligence.

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The African culture has always embraced caring for the collective. This foundational value must be the bedrock of our AI strategy. We must consider the digitally excluded and proactively develop a responsible AI framework rooted in our own ethical traditions. This means prioritising transparency, accountability, and fairness in every deployment

Download “AI Ethics in Africa’s Media and Communications Landscape: A Readiness Framework for 2026 & Beyond” at [bhmng.com/AIEthicsWhitePaper]