Google and Akuna Group, the media company of actor Idris Elba, have launched a $1 million program to put Gemini and other AI tools in the hands of about 100,000 creators in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Sierra Leone. It was unveiled at the Africa Cloud Summit in Johannesburg.
The pitch is that capital and equipment, not talent, hold African creators back; research cited by Tubefilter says only 4.2% have received institutional investment. YouTube previewed the idea at a Flow with Africa event in Lagos, giving participants free use of Flow, which runs on Google's Veo video model. Akuna is also adding a digital wallet for cross-border payments.
Tubefilter flags the risk: YouTube's purge of AI slop channels has left some African creators wary of building a career on generative video.
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