Creatives in the Age of AI: Who Thrives, Who Struggles, and How to Win

The creative economy in Africa has become bigger, faster, and more opportunity-filled than ever. According to a report by ALX Africa, the industry will be worth around $20billion by 2030. From music to design, content creation, film, tech-enabled art, advertising, and cultural production, today’s creatives have access to tools and platforms that previous generations could only dream of.

Artificial Intelligence has been the major differentiator in the global creative industry over the last decade, not just because it has redefined the term creativity and the entire creative process, but also it has given African creatives an opportunity to catch up with their counterparts in developed economies after being far behind in terms of infrastructure and access to opportunities for so long.

However, with the opportunities comes intense competition, rapidly changing trends, and an unpredictable earning landscape. “AI is coming for your job” is a mantra that has been mentioned so much, that it has become cliché. But it still remains as true as it has always been.  Nowadays AI can write poems, create full length novels, provide inspiration for art. In short AI is now capable of so much of creative grunt work that as an African creative, your problem should not be what to create, or how to start creating it should be how to turn that capacity for creation into a career that lasts.

Habeeb Ajijola, Founder of Growthverse, a venture and growth conglomerate, believes that unlike in the past when an African creative only need their artistic skill to thrive, building a sustainable creative career in today’s creative economy requires a blend of artistic skill, strategic planning, business discipline, and community leverage. For example, “A video editor AI  generated a project soundtrack in seconds, something that would have required months and considerable expense on musicians and voiceover artists in times past. This is the end for 90% of corporate gigs and jingles for musicians”. He warns.  

Many creators struggle because they think like artists but operate in an industry that rewards those who act like entrepreneurs. Creativity may be your passion, but sustainability demands structure. Whether you’re a musician, visual artist, designer, filmmaker, or digital creator, the blueprint for long-term relevance is to start thinking beyond that book you are writing, or that song you just sang, or that painting you just completed.

If there is anything that AI has provided for current day African creatives that previous generations did not have, it is an opportunity  for creatives to build cultural intelligence. With AI providing opportunities for art to be seen all around the world, global brands are trying to buy into African art and invest in African creatives. Previous generations of creatives only know that their audience enjoy their work, modern creatives who thrive in the AI economy know the Why, the Where, the What and most importantly the How of their creative work. Once they have the cultural and business pat down, it becomes easier for them to invest in professional branding and consistent messaging, and finally building systems for production, distribution, and communication.

Develop Multiple Income Streams

Babatope Oni, Co-Founder and CTO of Gigbanc, notes that  an advantage that the AI  economy has given creatives is that they have more freedom over how they are paid for what they create. “One of the issues that creatives faced in the past with their promoters/ publishers is royalties. Whether authors with publishers, musicians with music promoters, or filmmakers with film marketers, it’s a creative versus business professional issue that has been around since the dawn of music. However, with our platform, creatives can control their earnings and protect their funds, and get the deserved rewards for the work they are creating.”  He further points out that  “ social media and the internet have changed the creative economy,  and so as a creative, depending on a single platform, client, or skill is risky nowadays. The best way your career can survive is through diversification.”

As a creative here are income streams  that AI has made it easy for you to explore:
– Service-based earnings (commissions, design, consulting, production work)
– Digital products (templates, presets, courses, e-books)
– Platform-based monetization
– Licensing and publishing
– Merchandising and brand collaborations
– Teaching or workshops
– Grants, residencies, or creative fellowships

Build your own Community and Platform, Not Just an Audience

The most overlooked sustainability strategy in the creative economy today is community. Many creatives nowadays use social media platforms to build an audience instead of a community, they often forget that audiences  only consume your work for as long as they have access to it, and it puts you at the mercy of the platform. Think about it, as a video content creator for example, how would you survive if TikTok or Instagram decided to ban that two million follower account that you have painstakingly built with all your resources? Do those two million people have a way of connecting with you outside of that platform?  That is why as a creative you must try to create your own community instead. Communities are loyal, they support your journey, they attend your events, they subscribe to your paid platforms, and more importantly they help spread your work. An audience is only there until they find someone else that they enjoy more than you.

The good thing about Artificial Intelligence for you as a modern creative now is that it has democratized the process of community building, such that it has turned the creative’s  growth from unknown to superstar, which used to be an expensive process with no guarantees of success, into a process that you can actually curate and measure with figures and numbers.

In the current digital  economy, your career is no longer just about you, it is also about how well you can collaborate with others. Creative careers grow faster when you collaborate. Partnerships help you scale your reach, diversify your ideas, and access new markets.

Another thing that can also help your career as a creative  is  for you to learn the basics of contracts, pricing, budgeting, and taxes. As Amanda Uzoagba, entertainment lawyer, and Head of Licensing for Africa at Mdundo points out: “AI in the music industry is still nascent, Moreso in African creative industry where there are still a lot of legal blackholes and grey areas about what you are allowed to do with AI as regards to intellectual property.”

Thus as a creative, it is important for you to have an understanding of what you are doing (or at least have legal and business professionals around you who can tell you what to do per time). The world is littered with creative superstars who at the height of their stardom ran into legal or financial troubles which ended up destroying their careers, and even their lives. 

Building a sustainable creative career today requires more than talent—it requires strategy, diversification, discipline, community, and continuous evolution.  As Femi Morgan Founder of Fairchild media says: “AI for  creatives is no longer a speculative future, it is  present day reality critical  for professional survival.” In other words, technology is no longer optional for you as a creative, it is the backbone of the modern creative marketplace, and resisting it is setting yourself up for a fall into obsolescence.

AI, digital distribution, analytics, social platforms, and automation tools can help you create faster, reach more people, and understand what works.