Appropriation of Artificial Intelligence in Broadcast Media Production in Kenya: Opportunities and Concerns

Abstract

The adoption of emergent technologies, among them Artificial Intelligence (AI), in producing media commodities is increasingly becoming significant in the media industry in the 21st century. Studies theorizing AI embeddedness in broadcast media commodities production value-chains—from ideation, concept development, scripting, curation, and editing to post-production—have also emerged in various pieces of research, particularly from the Global North. There is, however, a paucity of studies documenting the state of AI appropriation in broadcast media production from the Global South. Therefore, this study examines the adoption of AI in producing broadcast media commodities such as news, commentaries, entertainment, and marketing content in Kenya using a qualitative systematic literature review of 1,262 scholarly publications. The review sampled eight (8) publications using exclusion and inclusion criteria and found evidence of the use of AI in producing media content, attendant affordances, limitations, and AI skills gaps for media producers in Kenya. While ethical dilemmas regarding labor issues, bias, and privacy concerns are widespread, AI dependency on the Global North remains.