By VINCENT OWINO

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Kenya’s fast-growing creative industry faces a moment of reckoning amidst widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, which are seemingly bolstering the sector but also threatening its very existence and the livelihoods it supports.

The creative industry currently directly employs some 5,600 Kenyans, based on latest data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), and has been growing at about five percent a year, faster than most sectors, including agriculture and manufacturing, Kenya’s largest employers.

But as the number of livelihoods supported by the industry continues to grow, the rise of AI poses a unique challenge to the nascent sector, as creatives struggle to make the most of its merits while minimising its negative impact on their work.

A new survey by Nairobi-based arts organisation Creative Garage reveals that Kenyan artistes are just as worried as they are optimistic about the growing use of AI in the industry, as it bears both good and bad news for them.

Read: UN resolution on AI co-sponsored by Kenya spells hope for Africa

According to the research that polled some 130 artistes in Kenya between January and April this year, 75.2 percent of artistes in the country are currently actively using AI in their creative work.

The most popular AI tools among Kenyan creatives are large-language models or chat bots like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, as well as other generative platforms like Dall-E2 and Midjourney, used by approximately 40 percent of them.

The artistes mostly use AI to generate ideas or spark inspiration for their works of art (23 percent), develop a concept (20 percent), text generation for creative output (nine percent), and seven percent use them for proof reading and to improve work flow.

Others also use the AI technologies for such things as visualisations, research, marketing, music composition, translation and the development of websites and apps, among others.

Majority of the artistes deploying AI techs say they improve their efficiency and speed in the creative process, provides them with new tools and new ways of working, as well as access to new creative possibilities.

Kenyan creatives also say AI use opens up opportunities for new revenue streams, helps improves their business operations, and creates new creative roles for them.

On the flip side, they are very worried about the possible infringement of their copyright and intellectual property rights that might come with increased use of AI.

They also feel that AI could devalue creative work and roles, displace jobs, standardise creative outputs, pose ethical dilemmas, and reduce the income they earn from their works of art.

American artistes had last year raised these very concerns, prompting the strike that lasted over three months as they demanded job security and pay increase with AI tools giving them a run for their money.

Liz Kilili, a film writer and director and the managing director of Creatives Garage, argues that while AI is still relatively far from really displacing African artists due to the unique and authentic nature of African art and languages, it is still a wake-up call for artists.

“Right now, the upper hand that we have compared to the western world is the authenticity and culture in our art, which is going to be really hard for AI to catch up with, and that is good for us,” she told The EastAfrican.

“However, our research reveals that there are already over 100 firms in Kenya that are already doing AI, so it’s coming to us as well. So, I think we have an upper hand because it’s going to take some time, but we have to prepare.”

“There’s no proper system in place to protect Kenyan creatives against such issues and that’s among the biggest issues worrying the artists,” she said.