Alphabet’s Google and UK actor Idris Elba will fund access to artificial intelligence tools for African creators, aiming to help them produce high-quality content faster and more cheaply.
The actor’s Elba Hope Foundation and Google will pay for access to Google’s flagship Gemini AI assistant and other digital products for about 100,000 creators in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Sierra Leone, to the value of about $1 million, Google Senior Vice President for Research and Technology James Manyika said.
“We think about all those creatives who don’t have access to these enormous studio budgets,” Manyika said in an interview. “AI is potentially a tool that can enable them to do work that they couldn’t otherwise do because they don’t have huge budgets.”
Elba is positioning himself as a key investor in Africa’s creative economy and has said he would set up a physical presence on the continent within the next few years to expand the industry and scale up production infrastructure. The region, home to the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population, currently has fewer than 3,000 cinema screens. “The barrier is not a lack of vision — it’s a lack of access,” Elba said on a video call at Google’s AI summit in Johannesburg on Wednesday. “Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not.”
The actor and entrepreneur has previously discussed setting up a creative village in Ghana and a studio complex in Zanzibar, with a focus on creating culturally accurate content for global streaming giants. Google owns YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing platform. Elba has also ventured into the African fintech space through his Akuna Wallet, which will assist creators with cross-border payments.
The continent’s broader media and entertainment market, currently valued at about $93 billion, is projected to climb to $118 billion by 2031, according to Mordor Intelligence. Google will select 15 African startups for its AI-focused programme from July 21, as part of plans to back 50 ventures on the continent by 2028, Manyika said.
