Artificial intelligence and the Nigerian Creative sector

At the recent and superbly delivered African Investment / AFDB market place in Marrakech, Morocco, the amazing 10 ft tall metal sculpture aptly named “African warrior” by the genius metal sculptor Dotun Popoola commanded attention. It also also elicited discussions around art as an environmental sustainability enabler, AI displacement mitigation, and the potential of high complexity, high value luxury art productions as a tool in Africa’s export revenue and cultural diffusion toolbox.

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The warrior spirit in Africa resonated in Morocco for a number of reasons. First, this amazing city and people had just endured an earthquake, and yet were able to calibrate quickly to deliver a high quality event with first-class hospitality, professionalism, technology deployment and organization. Third, we had all become Moroccans during the Qatar world Cup where the Atlas Lions played amazing football cloaked in the attribute of resilience as they eliminated highly rated teams to become the first African Team to reach the last four of the FIFA World cup. The "Africa Warrior" signified the intention of Africa to fight for its rightful place in the world, as a continent able to provide dignified existence for its people.?

Highly specialized upcycling using a variety of materials including metal, plastic, wood, and other discarded items represent an important facet of creative output that African artistes are ?unleashing on the world. Tonnes of dangerous discarded metals, plastics, rubber and other materials can be harnessed and used to create luxury art pieces that earn both creative and country export income. Morocco's Lahcen Iwi’s 'Rubber Lion' is an artistic spectacle in ?the ?King Mohammed V Airport Casablanca. Ghanian El Anutsui, for example, has sold his art installations for as high as $2m. Scaled up and supported by the appropriate investment frameworks, this could represent a significant play for Africa, achieving environmental sustainability and economic development goals concurrently.

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Artificial Intelligence and its disruptive potential in Africa were also a focal point of discourse. AI presents unprecedented and extensive opportunities for virtually every sector, including the creative sector. It also brings risks that need to be understood, quantified and mitigated. For example, our film and music creatives have now become global icons. In the music domain, our leading creatives have found the rhythmic expressions that a new generation ( and older ones) simply find irresistible. Many have also found commercial success delivering multiple ‘hits" and garnering wealth, awards and fame in the process. They also lubricate an extensive value chain which includes video producers, sound specialists, stylists, branding practitioners amongst others. Content creators also abound earning significant sums for their creative output in comedy skits, fashion expressions and other strands.

AI will disrupt and displace. Whilst some assert only the positive aspects the recent protest by creatives in the US underscores the valid concerns of how AI could obliterate settled aspects of the industry around creativity, copyright, and much more. The ‘Advocacy Day’ organised by ASCAP ( American Society of Composers, authors and Producers) ?is part of the ‘Stand with Songwriters’ campaign, a campaign that seeks to ensure that ?Artificial Intelligence is purposed to ?enhance the humans in music.

It is instructive to note that many local creatives ?in Nigeria are already "AI aware" and the discussions and some action steps have indeed begun. At the recent 11th edition of the Annual Innovation Lecture Series, hosted by Verdant Zeal Communication during October 2023; industry icon Kunle Afolayan reportedly ?acknowledged the potential of AI, but expressed concern ?that its disruptive potential could lead to robbing people of their intellectual property, creativity and a change in the narrative of African storytelling. AI actually presents a “do or die” scenario when its full capabilities and economic dimensions are fully grasped.

Whilst high complexity productions such as those made by Dotun Popoola, El Anatsui and many other amazing practitioners of complex art systems ?may be difficult for AI enabled Robotic systems to replicate in the short/ medium term, the same cannot be said for music, paintings ?and perhaps even film. Take digital art for example: according to a report by art basel, Gen Z collectors had the highest average expenditure on prints and digital art, indicating that these could be important and accessible mediums for younger collectors entering the art market?The global art market is currently worth some $30 billion making it a significant subsector in the creative industry pie. The trends suggest that in the future AI generated art may be normative acquisitions among younger audiences, shifting the balance of economic power to those who own AI applications used to generate these works, and stagnating or decimating the value of non-digital works as older audiences peak their collection activities.

Another industry where Nigeria needs to redouble its efforts to emplace productivity models that are competitive and sustainable is the garment / textile sector. Artificial intelligence is already being leveraged by countries like Bangladesh to ?enhance quality control, production efficiency, dye matching, colour analytics and digital integrated manufacturing, amongst other uses. ?The potential for the leading producers ?of textiles and finished garment - which we already patronize heavily ?- to infuse a heavy dose of AI into their manufacturing processes and having even more capabilities to flood our markets with low-cost product is high. This will deliver a knock out punch to our domestic ambitions.

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Indeed, the window of opportunity is closing rapidly despite our increased patronage of locally made textiles. Bangladesh, ?for example, has over ?5,000 Ready Made and Garment (RMG) factories accounting for 84 percent of its exports which stood at a whopping $27.4 billion for the July-January 2022-23 period, according to the Exports Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh. Revenue from crude oil sales earned Nigeria $11 billion in the first five months of 2023,?according to the data obtained from Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Revenue Factsheet? released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). “Nigeria also spends over $4 billion per year on importing textiles and clothing,” according to Hamma Kwajaffa, director general of the Textile Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (TMAN), though many opinions lean towards much higher figures when the intensity of accumulating apparels for social functions, following fashion trends, smuggling data gaps, and a culture of accumulation, at all levels of society, are considered. The inherent opportunities and risks are self evident.

Yet, never before has the application of AI offered so much promise and capabilities if we move very fast, and with purpose connecting all the dots in our creative sector and instituting a ‘marshall plan” that integrates and cross pollinates all the aspects into one innovation cloaked ecosystem where government and the creative sector collaborate with the understanding that AI is not tangential, but at the core of the reordering of the global creative industry. Capabilities like hyper efficient manufacturing, next generation logistics, human optimization, granular analytics, repetitive task elimination, and much much more can only be capitalised upon with a well laid out plan that progresses from governance through interventions and incentives to ruthless execution of specific 'Quantum leaping' initiatives and programmes.

The time to act is now, as AI stands at the core of transformative endeavors that could well define the future of Nigeria's creative sector