Nigeria’s creative economy is one of its most powerful global assets. Nollywood is among the world’s largest film industries by output, Nigerian music dominates African charts and increasingly shapes global pop culture, and digital media creators continue to influence audiences worldwide. Yet despite this success, many creatives still face constraints — limited budgets, long production cycles, and challenges reaching international markets. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a transformative tool that can help overcome these barriers, reinventing how Nigerian stories are told, produced, and shared with the world.
Enhancing storytelling and creative development
At the heart of film, music, and media lies storytelling. Generative AI can support creators at the ideation stage by helping writers develop plot outlines, character arcs, and dialogue drafts. In Nollywood, where production timelines are often tight, AI-assisted script development can accelerate pre-production without replacing human creativity.
Writers can use AI to explore multiple story directions, refine pacing, or adapt scripts for different audiences. Importantly, AI can be guided to reflect Nigerian cultural contexts, slang, and themes, ensuring authenticity remains intact. Rather than dictating stories, generative AI acts as a collaborative tool — helping creatives focus on originality and emotional depth.
In music, artists can experiment with melodies, harmonies, and lyrics, using AI to generate ideas that spark inspiration. Producers can explore new sounds more quickly, blending traditional African rhythms with contemporary global styles.
Speeding up production and reducing costs
One of the biggest challenges in Nigeria’s creative industries is production cost. Generative AI significantly reduces the time and resources required to bring creative projects to life. In film and media, AI tools can assist with storyboarding, scene visualization, and even rough visual effects, helping directors and producers plan more efficiently.
Post-production — often a bottleneck — can also benefit. AI can support video editing, colour correction, sound design, subtitling, and dubbing. For Nollywood films, this means faster turnaround times and improved technical quality, making content more competitive on global streaming platforms.
In music, AI-powered tools streamline mixing, mastering, and promotional content creation. Independent artists, who previously relied on expensive studio time, can now produce high-quality tracks with fewer resources. This democratization allows more voices to enter the industry, expanding creative diversity while maintaining professional standards.
Expanding global reach through localization
Global reach is no longer optional for Nigeria’s creative economy — it is essential. Generative AI plays a key role in making Nigerian content accessible to international audiences. Automated subtitling and dubbing in multiple languages allow films and series to travel beyond English-speaking markets. AI can also adapt marketing materials for different regions, ensuring cultural relevance and resonance.
For musicians and digital creators, AI helps analyze global audience data, identifying where content is gaining traction and suggesting strategies for expansion. Personalised marketing messages, localised visuals, and targeted campaigns become easier to execute, even for small teams.
Streaming platforms and social media algorithms increasingly reward consistency and engagement. Generative AI enables creators to produce behind-the-scenes content, trailers, and social posts at scale, keeping audiences engaged without overwhelming creative teams.
Preserving culture while embracing technology
A common concern around AI in creative industries is the risk of cultural dilution or loss of originality. In Nigeria’s case, the opposite can be true — if AI is used intentionally. By training and guiding AI tools with local narratives, languages, and artistic styles, creatives can preserve and amplify Nigerian identity.
AI can support content creation in indigenous languages, helping document and modernize storytelling traditions that might otherwise be marginalized. This not only preserves cultural heritage but also introduces it to new audiences worldwide.
New roles and economic opportunities
The integration of generative AI will also reshape employment in the creative sector. While some tasks may be automated, new roles will emerge — AI-assisted editors, digital production managers, creative technologists, and data-driven marketers. These roles blend artistic sensibility with technical skills, opening new career paths for young Nigerians.
Moreover, by lowering production costs and increasing output, AI enables creative businesses to scale. This growth supports job creation across distribution, marketing, event management, and digital platforms.
A new chapter for Nigeria’s creative economy
Generative AI will not replace Nigerian creativity — it will amplify it. By boosting storytelling, accelerating production, and expanding global reach, AI empowers creators to compete on the world stage while staying rooted in local culture.
For Nollywood, music, and media, the opportunity is clear. Those who embrace generative AI as a creative partner rather than a threat will help usher in a new chapter for Nigeria’s creative economy — one defined by innovation, inclusivity, and global influence.
Olusegun Afolabi has a first degree in biochemistry from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, and a master’s in computer science from Hertfordshire University in the United Kingdom. He is an AWS solutions architect professional, a Microsoft certified Azure solutions architect expert, co-founder and chief innovations architect of Face Technologies UK Limited. He can be reached at … and on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olusegun-afolabi-307931184/
