The stories shaping Africa’s AI future

By Scott TimckeJuly 20, 2026

From leapfrogging optimism to warnings of a new extraction economy, the frameworks now defining Africa’s AI moment will decide who gets to shape the future and who is shaped by it

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The prosecutions that never happen

Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency secures thousands of convictions every year, but when it comes to politically-connected elites, it’s a different story.

Obongodu Paul UnanamAug 5, 2026

Africa Is a Country

The price of potential

Joseph O’Neill’s new novel follows a Pittsburgh writer chasing a West African wonderkid. It’s also a story about who profits every time the world goes looking for the next Eusébio.

Matthew KirwinAug 4, 2026

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Sovereign rot

From Eko Atlantic to the Niger Delta, elite enclaves have become the defining spatial expression of Nigeria’s political order.

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Had he been buried

Binyavanga Wainaina was cremated in a private ceremony in 2019. In his final year, the writer kept returning to a colonial chief’s grave beneath a sacred fig tree in Nairobi — as if contemplating what remains of a life.

Njuki GithethwaJul 30, 2026

Africa Is a Country

Is football still capable of scandal?

From the Epstein files to a World Cup trailed by rape charges and a hush-money settlement, the public has gotten remarkably good at feeling outrage. What it hasn’t learned is what to do with it.

Lee NxumaloJul 29, 2026

Africa Is a Country

The grid inside the grid

Africa’s new AI factories promise digital sovereignty. Their electricity deals may instead create private power islands inside public systems.

Awonusi Ayomide JesudamilareJul 27, 2026

The stories shaping Africa’s AI future

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The prosecutions that never happen

The price of potential

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