{"id":10612,"date":"2026-06-15T09:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T09:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mdiafrica.org\/?p=10612"},"modified":"2026-09-15T09:12:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T09:12:41","slug":"afrikia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdiafrica.org\/fr\/afrikia\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAfrikia\u201d \u2013 Africa’s first AI-focused media outlet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt is truly a joy for us to be pioneers,\u201d said Bernard Yao Adzorgenu, editor-in-chief of\u00a0Afrikia<\/em><\/a>, the first media outlet dedicated exclusively to artificial intelligence across Africa. \u201cAI is currently experiencing growth worldwide, but many people think it has no place in Africa. So we are coming with the mission to change mindsets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young online media aims to make bridges between global technological innovation linked to AI and reality in Africa. The platform offers everyday, in French, a variety of content, including articles, profiles, and interviews. \u201cPublishing in French is a strategic and cultural choice. It allows us to reach a wide audience in Africa and beyond, particularly in French-speaking countries where technological and AI issues deserve better media coverage,\u201d explained Yao Adzorgenu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately,\u00a0Afrikia\u00a0<\/em>thus aims to become a space for discussion, sharing, and reflection on the major issues related to AI, but also to show that this new technology can bring benefits to the continent. \u201cWe want to show people how, for example, AI can boost areas where Africa faces many challenges, such as access to technology, healthcare, agriculture, and education,\u201d said Yao Adzorgenu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A strategy based on a network of correspondents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The main editorial and operational team is based in Togo and is made up of seven people. Supported by the Media and Digital Institute (MDI), an organisation that supports digital media in Africa,\u00a0Afrikia\u00a0<\/em>intends to rely on a network of correspondents from all over the continent. For now, it has collaborators in C\u00f4te d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Senegal, and it hopes to expand as it becomes more well-known. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe goal is really to be able to decentralise the media in almost all the countries of Africa. We are still new, it will take time, but we have to get started. We cannot wait to have 54 correspondents all over the continent,\u201d explained Yao Adzorgenu, referring to the number of countries in Africa. The editor-in-chief proudly adds that his editorial team is made up of young journalists who have a perfect grasp of the subject of AI and its issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This network of correspondents allows them to diversify their content. For example, they discussed the\u00a0AI \u200b\u200brevolution in agriculture in Kenya<\/a>,\u00a0the first edition of the International Forum on the protection of personal data in Togo<\/a>, or presented\u00a0key actors in the tech sector in Senegal<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Launching a new media outlet obviously comes with its share of challenges, particularly economic ones. Bernard Yao Adzorgenu acknowledges that it is still difficult for the outlet to attract partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The technologies here are not advanced, which means that significant investments in digital infrastructure are scarceBernard Yao, editor-in-chief of Afrikia<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are still challenges related to the internet or modern devices that hinder the adoption of AI in daily practices.\u201d For now, they are relying on financial support from the Media and Digital Institute and will spend the next few months talking about the project to new potential sponsors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent developments on social networks and the departures of major media outlets from the X platform are also pushing Afrikia to diversify. \u201cWe are adopting a hybrid strategy. While remaining present on major platforms such as X and Meta, we are diversifying our distribution channels to reduce our dependency,\u201d said Yao Adzorgenu, who gives their newsletter as an example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Mamadou Ndiaye, a researcher and lecturer in information and communication sciences at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, the challenge of funding remains the biggest problem currently facing the media in Africa. \u201cThe aspect that currently undermines journalism in Africa is economic precariousness,\u201d said Ndiaye, who is also the director of studies at the CESTI journalism training school in Dakar. \u201cMany media groups do not have a viable economic model and generally resort to patching things up all day long to survive because advertising does not cover the costs related to information production.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The economic challenge is often amplified by the control exercised by authorities over the media and journalists in Africa. \u201cThere are political problems that lead states to often implement economic mechanisms to stifle the dynamics of press groups, with taxes or sometimes aid that were allocated to them but not distributed,\u201d said Ndiaye. \u201cAll these elements ultimately mean that the press groups no longer conduct investigations or work on serious or public interest issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Afrikia<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Afrikia<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

AI and misinformation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This media and political situation leaves the door wide open to misinformation, often exacerbated by AI. Sometimes\u00a0orchestrated by Russia, sometimes originating from the African continent<\/a>, misinformation has played a central role in Africa in recent years in political campaigns, conflicts, coups, and public health crises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis entire situation gives rise to this army that is on the Internet and who, for political reasons sometimes, starts to distill, to disseminate information that, as we define it in relation to propaganda, only serves one side,\u201d said Ndiaye. Moreover, the use of social media for news would also promote misinformation in Africa,\u00a0according to a study by the Australian company KnowBe4\u00a0<\/a>conducted last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aware that there is a real educational effort to be made,\u00a0Afrikia\u00a0<\/em>also wants to do its part. \u201cWe also come with the idea of addressing these challenges and raising awareness among our readers by promoting educational initiatives so that more Africans are aware of this technological revolution and its possible dangers,\u201d said Yao Adzorgenu. The new media now hopes to gain visibility and soon launch a quarterly magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was written by Romain Chauvet<\/a> and first published on The Fix <\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt is truly a joy for us to be pioneers,\u201d said Bernard Yao Adzorgenu, editor-in-chief of\u00a0Afrikia, the first media outlet dedicated exclusively to artificial intelligence across Africa. \u201cAI is currently experiencing growth worldwide, but many people think it has no place in Africa. So we are coming with the mission to change mindsets.\u201d The young online media aims to make bridges between global technological innovation linked to AI and reality in Africa. The platform offers everyday, in French, a variety of content, including articles, profiles, and interviews. \u201cPublishing in French is a strategic and cultural choice. It allows us to reach a wide audience in Africa and beyond, particularly in French-speaking countries where technological and AI issues deserve better media coverage,\u201d explained Yao Adzorgenu. Ultimately,\u00a0Afrikia\u00a0thus aims to become a space for discussion, sharing, and reflection on the major issues related to AI, but also to show that this new technology can bring benefits to the continent. \u201cWe want to show people how, for example, AI can boost areas where Africa faces many challenges, such as access to technology, healthcare, agriculture, and education,\u201d said Yao Adzorgenu. A strategy based on a network of correspondents The main editorial and operational team is based in Togo and is made up of seven people. Supported by the Media and Digital Institute (MDI), an organisation that supports digital media in Africa,\u00a0Afrikia\u00a0intends to rely on a network of correspondents from all over the continent. For now, it has collaborators in C\u00f4te d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Senegal, and it hopes to expand as it becomes more well-known. \u201cThe goal is really to be able to decentralise the media in almost all the countries of Africa. We are still new, it will take time, but we have to get started. We cannot wait to have 54 correspondents all over the continent,\u201d explained Yao Adzorgenu, referring to the number of countries in Africa. The editor-in-chief proudly adds that his editorial team is made up of young journalists who have a perfect grasp of the subject of AI and its issues. This network of correspondents allows them to diversify their content. For example, they discussed the\u00a0AI \u200b\u200brevolution in agriculture in Kenya,\u00a0the first edition of the International Forum on the protection of personal data in Togo, or presented\u00a0key actors in the tech sector in Senegal. Challenges Launching a new media outlet obviously comes with its share of challenges, particularly economic ones. Bernard Yao Adzorgenu acknowledges that it is still difficult for the outlet to attract partners. The technologies here are not advanced, which means that significant investments in digital infrastructure are scarceBernard Yao, editor-in-chief of Afrikia \u201cThere are still challenges related to the internet or modern devices that hinder the adoption of AI in daily practices.\u201d For now, they are relying on financial support from the Media and Digital Institute and will spend the next few months talking about the project to new potential sponsors. Recent developments on social networks and the departures of major media outlets from the X platform are also pushing Afrikia to diversify. \u201cWe are adopting a hybrid strategy. While remaining present on major platforms such as X and Meta, we are diversifying our distribution channels to reduce our dependency,\u201d said Yao Adzorgenu, who gives their newsletter as an example. For Mamadou Ndiaye, a researcher and lecturer in information and communication sciences at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, the challenge of funding remains the biggest problem currently facing the media in Africa. \u201cThe aspect that currently undermines journalism in Africa is economic precariousness,\u201d said Ndiaye, who is also the director of studies at the CESTI journalism training school in Dakar. \u201cMany media groups do not have a viable economic model and generally resort to patching things up all day long to survive because advertising does not cover the costs related to information production.\u201d The economic challenge is often amplified by the control exercised by authorities over the media and journalists in Africa. \u201cThere are political problems that lead states to often implement economic mechanisms to stifle the dynamics of press groups, with taxes or sometimes aid that were allocated to them but not distributed,\u201d said Ndiaye. \u201cAll these elements ultimately mean that the press groups no longer conduct investigations or work on serious or public interest issues.\u201d AI and misinformation This media and political situation leaves the door wide open to misinformation, often exacerbated by AI. Sometimes\u00a0orchestrated by Russia, sometimes originating from the African continent, misinformation has played a central role in Africa in recent years in political campaigns, conflicts, coups, and public health crises. \u201cThis entire situation gives rise to this army that is on the Internet and who, for political reasons sometimes, starts to distill, to disseminate information that, as we define it in relation to propaganda, only serves one side,\u201d said Ndiaye. Moreover, the use of social media for news would also promote misinformation in Africa,\u00a0according to a study by the Australian company KnowBe4\u00a0conducted last year. Aware that there is a real educational effort to be made,\u00a0Afrikia\u00a0also wants to do its part. \u201cWe also come with the idea of addressing these challenges and raising awareness among our readers by promoting educational initiatives so that more Africans are aware of this technological revolution and its possible dangers,\u201d said Yao Adzorgenu. The new media now hopes to gain visibility and soon launch a quarterly magazine. This article was written by Romain Chauvet and first published on The Fix<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":10613,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[202,203,200,204],"class_list":["post-10612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-afrikia","tag-ai","tag-digital-africa","tag-misinformation"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mdiafrica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-scaled.png?fit=2560%2C1816&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdiafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdiafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdiafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdiafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdiafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mdiafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10614,"href":"https:\/\/mdiafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10612\/revisions\/10614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdiafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdiafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdiafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdiafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}