Computer Says Maybe

Across Africa, social media and AI are presented as pathways to economic opportunity, promising new livelihoods for creators, entrepreneurs, and communities historically excluded from traditional markets. But behind that promise lies an economy built on exploitative labour and environmental harm. Much of the value generated by African creativity and labor flows to powerful tech companies and their shareholders, while the people making these technologies work have little say in how they're developed or who benefits.

Across the continent, people are finding ways to challenge this imbalance, adapting technologies to their own needs and pushing for a bigger role in shaping the digital economy. In this conversation, ‘Gbenga Sesan, Chenai Chair, and Ojoma Ochai explore how to reclaim agency while navigating the gap between technology's promised benefits and its systemic costs - and what it would take to build a digital future where economic opportunity doesn't come at the expense of rights, dignity, and justice.

This episode is part of a series produced in partnership with Luminate, highlighting how communities around the globe are confronting the consequences of the tech industry's promises of “progress” and building alternatives rooted in justice and real public benefit. Learn more and check out the live shows and other episodes here.

Exciting news: Computer Says Maybe has just won three awards! two from the Lovie Awards for Best Technology Podcast and one from Signal Awards for Best Limited Series for our Computer Says Kill series. Huge thank you for listening to the podcast and supporting our journey.

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Computer Says Maybe is produced by Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Zoe Trout, and Peter Price at Rethink Audio.