…calls for African creatives to lead generative film revolution

While global AI startups race to claim unicorn status in film, Nigeria’s creative industry is still debating whether artificial intelligence belongs on set at all. One Lagos-based filmmaker says the debate is already over.

Adetayo Adebowale, known in creative circles as Diwizad, was selected in July 2026 as one of 19 practitioners to contribute to a landmark research study by Cambridge Judge Business School on how AI is reshaping Nigeria’s creative industries. The study’s findings are now feeding directly into Nigeria’s National AI Strategy through the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy.

Adebowale was invited specifically as a voice at the intersection of filmmaking and generative AI. In the interviews, he rejected the idea of waiting for Western platforms to “get Africa right.”

“We cannot keep saying the systems do not know us if we are not doing the disciplined, intentional work of showing them who we are,” he said. “Cultural specificity is not just an ethical position. It is a competitive advantage we are leaving on the table.”

On resistance to AI within Nigeria’s film community, he was blunt: “This transition is not coming. It is already here. The question is no longer whether AI will reshape Nigerian filmmaking. The question is whether Nigerian filmmakers will be the ones shaping how it happens.”

Adebowale also addressed the growing divide between established industry veterans and younger, AI-native creators. Rather than conflict, he sees opportunity.

“The older generation holds craft, instinct and judgment that no model can generate. The younger generation brings speed, adaptability and hunger,” he said. “Put those two things together deliberately and you do not just get better work. You get an industry that can compete globally.”

That philosophy drives his latest venture, Genfilm Institute. The institute trains the next generation of Nigerian filmmakers in AI-integrated cinematic production, identifying emerging talent and developing them into “generative filmmakers” capable of producing world-class African content at scale.

With Cambridge’s findings now informing national policy, Adebowale’s argument is moving from studio rooms to government strategy: that Nigeria’s future in film will be determined not by imported tools, but by how deliberately its own creators teach AI to speak with an African voice.