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FOMO in Sub-Saharan African AI Hype: The Quest for a Decolonized AI Adoption Framework
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Abstract: Based on an abductive analysis of 54 opinion, editorial, and analytical articles published between 2019 and 2025 in nine English-speaking Sub-Saharan African countries, this study examines negotiation of the place of AI within journalism. Conceptualizing AI hype as a form of metajournalistic discourse, the study finds that discussions about AI in journalism in Sub-Saharan Africa are driven by a fear of missing out and a call for a decolonial approach to the technology’s adoption in a way sensitive to the region’s context.
Keywords: AI hype; artificial intelligence; institutionalism; journalism; metajournalistic discourse; Sub-Saharan Africa
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Vol 14 (2026): AI Use in Marginalized Media Markets (In Progress)
© Danford Zirugo, Bruce Mutsvairo. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction of the work without further permission provided the original author(s) and source are credited.