In recent years, I have become increasingly drawn to the intersection of media, technology, and storytelling in Africa. The pace of change is rapid and exciting. What began as curiosity has grown into a deeper engagement with how multimedia tools and artificial intelligence (AI) are shaping how stories are produced, shared, and consumed across the continent.
I am not interested in this theoretically; I’ve been learning and working through it in real time.
Africa’s evolving multimedia landscape
Across Africa, journalism is evolving beyond the traditional newsroom. In Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and across the Sahel, we are seeing creative blends of video, audio, data, animation, and mobile-first reporting that speak directly to the realities of younger, digital-native audiences. Newsrooms like Premium Times, HumAngle, BBC Africa Eye, and many others are already showing what’s possible by mixing rigorous investigation with storytelling formats that break out of the box. Podcasting, TikTok explainers, WhatsApp journalism. They are now central to how audiences engage. In 2023, HumAngle launched HumAngle+, a subscription-based platform designed to take storytelling to the next level using visuals, data, and technology.
At the 2024 HumAngle Showcase in Abuja, I got to experience the impact of that innovation firsthand. Through tools like virtual reality (VR), interactive maps, and silent podcast booths, HumAngle brought stories from conflict-affected and underreported regions to life in a personal and powerful way. These weren’t just tech demos—they were tools for deeper connection and understanding. It was clear that while the news remains freely accessible, HumAngle+ is about helping people see and feel the full picture.
This shift has opened up opportunities for a new kind of journalist: one who can shoot video, edit audio, analyse data, and tell stories across multiple platforms.
Where AI Fits In — and how I have been exploring it
For me, the exploration into AI in media didn’t start with a grand strategy. It started with simple, practical questions:
Can this tool help me brainstorm?
Can it save time in production?
Can it unlock new ways of seeing and sharing a story?
While these questions may seem basic at the surface, finding the answers to them opened me up to a whole new reality, one that set me up for a few insights I have personally used and experimented with AI in storytelling:
- Content drafting with generative AI: Tools like ChatGPT, perplexity.ai have been helpful in outlining scripts or blog posts. They don’t write the final story, but they’ve helped me get over creative blocks and test out tone and structure.
Last month, I was stuck while trying to create characters and write a script for a story-driven video. Feeling frustrated, I tried using ChatGPT. I shared my rough ideas, and the AI helped me bring the characters to life by suggesting their personalities and motivations. It also helped me map out the story and try different ways for the dialogue to sound. These suggestions gave me fresh inspiration and helped me get past the block. I didn’t let the AI write everything — I used its ideas to shape my own original story. This made the whole process faster and more enjoyable, while still keeping my unique voice in the work. - Audio and Video Editing: Platforms like Descript, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Capcut make it easier to transcribe interviews and clean up rough audio quickly. That’s especially useful when working on multimedia content under tight deadlines. Some other Audio editing and creating platforms include elevenlabs.io and udio.com
- Visual Storytelling Experiments: I’ve also tested a few AI image tools (like Midjourney, ImageFX and Canva’s AI features) to create concept visuals or enhance social content.
These experiences opened me up to newer lessons. For Instance,I explored how AI can support powerful storytelling, especially on urgent national issues. What began as curiosity grew into a hands-on learning journey using open-source intelligence (OSINT) and accessible AI tools. I used ChatGPT for scripting, ImageFX for visuals, HailuoAI.video for animation, and Adobe Premiere Pro to edit it all into a short, impactful piece. AI can speed up some parts of the work, but it cannot replace the heart of storytelling. The story still needs a human to ask the right questions, make ethical choices, and ensure it connects with real people and lived realities.
Leisa Goddard, managing director of Adoni Media, also seems to agree with the fact that AI can’t indeed change human storytelling ability. In her words, Leisa interestingly said, “Communicating is not just about presenting information; it’s about storytelling. Humans have an innate ability to weave narratives that resonate with their audience on a personal level. While AI can generate content based on patterns and data, it lacks the creativity and intuition required to craft compelling and authentic narratives. The nuance, wit, and cultural context that a human brings to storytelling are elements that AI will never be able to emulate.”
What We Need to Think About
The more I’ve explored these tools, or even how other experts are using them, the more I’ve realised there are important conversations we need to be having, especially here in Africa; where the reality is a bit complex and nuanced (putting in context diverse languages and unstable goevernments policies, limited reosurces).
- Access and Skills: Many journalists don’t have access to powerful AI tools or the training to use them. There’s a risk that AI could widen the gap between well-resourced and under-resourced newsrooms. A recent report by the Thomson Reuters Foundation (October 2024) underscores this challenge. The foundation surveyed over 200 journalists from more than 70 countries across the Global South and emerging economies—many of them alumni of their training programmes. The findings show a clear gap in access to AI tools and expertise, reflecting broader concerns about equity, ethics, and innovation in journalism. While AI is reshaping how news is produced and consumed globally, this revolution is unfolding unevenly.
- Ethics and Trust: Who decides what’s “truth” when AI starts generating facts? How do we declare when AI was used in a piece of work? If used, to what extent is acceptable and sufficient? These are questions I believe journalists and storytellers need to actively engage with before tech platforms make those choices for us. Silas Jonathan, DAIDAC lead at the Centre for Journalists, agrees that these issues are real and a timely conversation on them with the right stakeholders will greatly help. Already, there are ongoing conversations on AI usage in the African media space. The 2024 Civic Space Guard Conference by WSCIJ, highlighted the vital role of media ethics, self-regulation, and professionalism in protecting democracy amid growing challenges like AI use and state pressure on the press. Experts stressed journalists must lead in upholding truth, freedom of expression, and public trust while cautiously harnessing AI.
- Cultural Representation: AI tools are often trained on data that reflects Western norms and perspectives. This can erase nuance or misrepresent African realities if we’re not careful and intentional. These speak to the already gap in the African Media space in terms of AI and new technology. Monsur Hussein, Innovation lead at the CJID, has always made this challenge known while he building the DUBAWA audio tool. His Dilemma, finding the right Language model that has the African accent and slangs_because a tool that will transcribe African-based text should at least have an African-based language model at the base of it. He did find a way, but for many innovators in Africa, this is a far-fetched reality.
Still Learning, Still Testing
This journey is not about having all the answers. I’m still learning. Still trying things. Still asking how technology can support, not distort, the work of storytelling in our context.
What keeps me going is the growing number of journalists, creatives, and media organisations across Africa who are also experimenting, sharing, and shaping new paths.
Whether it’s through platforms like CJID, cross-border collaborations, or local newsroom trials, the future of African media is being built in real time, and there’s space for many voices to shape it.
Final Thoughts
Multimedia reporting and AI are not magic solutions. However, they are powerful tools if we use them with care, creativity, and purpose. For me, the goal isn’t to replace human storytelling; it’s to enhance it, make it more accessible, and allow more people to see, hear, and feel the stories that matter in Africa today.
