Global Cultures & Artificial Intelligence

Much of the discussion around the impacts and implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolve around economics, politics and either a doomsday or techtopia. They are highly Western world centric viewpoints. Yet AI is a technology that will play an important role on the global stage. Which means all our varied cultural and social systems.

So perhaps we should also be considering AI’s impact and potential role more globally, with a diverse lens, rather than a purely Western centric one. Especially if we are indeed, moving towards a period of time when we may live in a multipolar world as democracies struggle and autocracies become more entrenched.

After all, culture is in the code and the code is in the culture. Culture too is mutable, ever changing and evolving and if some AI tools become social agents, able to act to varying degrees in our societies, then these tools take on a global multicultural aspect.

Across African nations, AI has permeated the marketing profession far faster than in most Western nations. This seems to be driven by tough economic times and reduced marketing budgets, especially for creative. African nations aren’t really imposing any restrictions on the use of AI either, which has accelerated innovation with AI tools. Though mostly with Generative AI and not other tools like Machine Learning (ML) or Natural Language Processing (NLP), where many African nations lag.

The easiest AI tool to adopt in most countries is Generative AI (GAI) such as LLMs through ChatGPT, Microsoft CoPilot, Claude, Midjourney etc., which have zero or currently low cost barriers to entry. Basic computer skills and internet access are pretty much all one needs. Many African youth, especially in more prosperous area, are very technology literate.

Other AI tools, like ML or NLP that are more robust but usually require more significant resources, skills and time to implement and will likely lag in developing nations. This sets off a dynamic situation where those in developing nations can adopt and leverage some AI tools but not others. GAI is good, but it is narrow in scope. Africa is lagging in AI use, but there are plans to help them catch up. This is important. There are similarities in some Latin American and Asian countries.