China-Africa can usher in AI media revolution

Beyond hardware, build human capacity

When a country acquires new technology, the most visible signs of progress are often the easiest to quantify: cameras, broadcasting equipment, digital networks and computers. However, for countries striving to build their media industries, the more important question is how technology can create lasting local capabilities.

The experience of the Central African Republic offers valuable insights. In a country where radio and television are essential channels for public information, educating young people and supporting economic activity, digital technology presents enormous opportunities. China has already supported the country in broadcasting, professional training and exchanges among journalists. Such cooperation can enhance media reach and connect more people with information.

Yet technology alone cannot create a flourishing media industry. The Central African Republic is also working to strengthen its media infrastructure, expand coverage, improve content production and develop a larger pool of trained professionals. But several basic constraints have to be addressed. Sophisticated broadcasting systems need reliable power, connectivity and maintenance systems. A newsroom cannot become digitally capable simply because new computers have been installed.

This is why the most important part of digital cooperation may be the part that is least visible: people.

A camera can be delivered, and a broadcasting network can be built. But the ability to operate a newsroom, produce engaging programs, edit videos, manage digital platforms and develop sustainable media businesses has to be cultivated. Developing local expertise is essential to turning technological cooperation into sustainable development.

This distinction becomes even more important as AI transforms the economics of content production. Social media and AI tools are lowering the cost of producing and distributing audio and video. For young people in the Central African Republic, this could open possibilities that were once reserved for organizations with substantial financial and technical resources. They can now become not merely audiences for digital content, but also its producers.

The significance of this shift extends beyond the media industry. A country capable of producing its own news, educational programs and cultural content has greater capacity to communicate with its citizens and to present its perspective to the outside world. Digital transformation, in this sense, becomes a question of who gets to create and disseminate knowledge.

The next stage of China-Central African Republic cooperation should place greater emphasis on joint capacity-building. Training journalists, developing technical skills and jointly producing audiovisual content could have a more significant impact than adding more hardware. Joint production, in particular, offers a way to turn cooperation from something delivered by one side into something created by both.

That doesn't mean infrastructure is not important. On the contrary, reliable electricity, communications networks and appropriate equipment are essential. But infrastructure should be developed alongside training, knowledge transfer and long-term maintenance. Otherwise, the hardware may outlast the capacity needed to operate it.

This principle applies in other countries as well. Across the developing world, digital transformation is often described as a race to acquire the latest technologies. But technological development is not a shopping list. The real question is whether societies can absorb technology, adapt it to local circumstances and eventually use it to create something of their own.

The success of international digital cooperation should therefore not be measured by what is delivered, but by what endures: the skills acquired, the local industries created, the content produced and the capacity to innovate and develop sustainably in local contexts.

The ultimate goal of cooperation is not merely to increase the use of technology, but to empower people to adapt, innovate and create with it. It is to give people the capacity to make technology their own.

Evariste Ngamana is the minister of state for communication and media and the government spokesperson of the Central African Republic.