In How to Write About Africa, my late Kenyan compatriot Binyavanga Wainaina mocked clichéd depictions of a continent of “Darkness” and “Safari,” and portrayals of Africans as “exotic,” one-dimensional, or exclusively “tribal.” In the age of generative AI, I would like to propose a system upgrade of his thinking.
After 15 years at CNN, and subsequently building an African storytelling startup, I’ve seen how even well-intentioned journalists fall into narrative traps when covering Africa. Alongside legitimate stories about economic and political issues across our continent, there’s no equivalent pull toward stories about innovation, entrepreneurship, art, climate action,and sport.
The problem is systemic rather than deliberately malicious. Traditional newsroom structures weren’t built for Africa’s complexity. Smart, hardworking reporters face newsroom politics, thin budgets, and institutional ignorance, leading to generalized coverage of a continent with over 1.5 billion people. Defaulting to stereotypes can be hardwired into a Western mindset or become an easy shortcut in a deadline-driven environment. And such coverage comes at a cost: according to Africa No Filter, a media advocacy organization, the continent could be losing up to $4.2 billion annually because of stereotypical narratives.
But what if AI could systematically build nuance into newsrooms and address these stereotypes? I’ve developed a Master AI Prompt, an editorial co-pilot for journalists and communications professionals to deploy when covering Africa. This is not about censorship or promoting lazy AI-dependent writing. It’s a tool that helps you write better stories, sidestepping stereotypes.
The prompt operates on three core principles. It prioritizes agency over victimhood by forcing large language models (LLMs) to first look for the people around the story: the local auditors exposing fraud, the entrepreneurs building infrastructure, the community organizers innovating in education. It finds the protagonists, not only the problems.
It demands context over crisis: A story about a health challenge in one region must be told with an awareness of the thriving tech scene in another. This doesn’t whitewash the problem; it presents a more complete and truthful reality where struggle and progress coexist, as they do everywhere. It forces specificity, rejecting queries about “Africa” broadly, demanding specific countries, regions, or cities.
Finally, the prompt is grounded in an ethical framework, ensuring stories are told with a respect for the dignity of Africans, avoiding poverty porn and sensationalism.
Using generative AI as an editorial co-pilot, we can systematically challenge assumptions, surface overlooked angles and build reflexive nuance into reporting processes. This approach transforms journalism from extractive to collaborative, where technology amplifies rather than replaces human insight, and where Africa’s stories emerge with the sophistication they deserve.
In 2018, my TED talk argued that Africa’s most important person is the storyteller. Now we will use and build the tech and the tools to ensure stories, both challenging and celebratory, get told with the context and humanity that all Africans deserve.
Zain Verjee is co-founder of The Rundown Studio consultancy and offers the full AI Co-Pilot system instruction and data primer for free at An AI Co-Pilot for Reporting on Africa.