Sterling Bank Partners Aké Festival to Spotlight Africa’s Role in Artificial Intelligence Debate

Sterling Bank has partnered Aké Festival to spotlight Africa’s role in Artificial Intelligence Debate.

NewsOnline Nigeria reports that Sterling Bank has renewed its partnership with the Aké Arts and Book Festival as the 14th edition of the literary and cultural event prepares to bring African writers, artists, technologists and intellectuals together to examine the continent’s place in the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence.

The festival, scheduled to hold in Lagos from November 19 to 21, 2026, will explore the theme, “Native Intelligence,” focusing on the relationship between traditional African knowledge systems and artificial intelligence technologies increasingly shaping global communication, education, business and governance.

Sterling Bank, which has supported the festival since 2018, said its continued partnership reflects its commitment to promoting African creativity, intellectual development and cultural representation.

The theme examines how indigenous African knowledge, preserved through generations of storytelling, proverbs, folklore and communal experiences, can contribute to conversations about the development and application of artificial intelligence.

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It also raises questions about the representation of African languages, cultural experiences and perspectives in AI systems that increasingly influence how information is produced, shared and consumed globally.

Commenting on the partnership, Donatus Okpako, Chief Marketing Officer of Sterling Bank, said African societies had developed their own forms of intelligence long before the emergence of modern technology.

He noted that as artificial intelligence continues to transform different aspects of society, it is important to ensure that African knowledge systems contribute to shaping the technologies influencing the continent’s future.

“Every society has an intelligence, the instinct and judgement employed to read a situation and solve a problem. Africans have always had it in abundance. As AI reshapes how we work, bank, vote and learn, the real concern is whether Africa’s own ways of thinking help shape the technology it relies on.

“For fourteen years, Aké has placed African ideas at the centre of global conversations. That is a platform worth standing behind,” Okpako said.

According to Sterling Bank, the festival has continued to provide a platform for established and emerging African writers, artists and thinkers to exchange ideas and showcase their work to wider audiences.

Over the years, the event has brought together more than 1,000 creative voices, creating opportunities for African stories, perspectives and cultural expressions to reach international audiences.

The 2026 edition will feature novelists, poets, journalists, technologists, filmmakers and scholars examining questions around knowledge, technology, cultural identity and the future of artificial intelligence.

Founder and Director of the Aké Arts and Book Festival, Lola Shoneyin, said the theme was designed to draw attention to the limited representation of African experiences in the data and knowledge systems used to develop artificial intelligence.

She argued that the technology’s understanding of the world is shaped by the information used to train it, raising concerns about the exclusion of African perspectives.

“A machine knows only what it has been fed, and it has not been fed much of us. Native Intelligence is about power: who decides what is true, what is worth remembering, and whose voice the future speaks in?” Shoneyin said.

She also commended Sterling Bank for its continued support of African creativity and the festival’s efforts to promote intellectual and cultural conversations across the continent.

“Sterling understands our goal to support and celebrate creativity on the African continent and beyond. We are delighted to work with them again,” she added.

The festival programme will feature book chats, panel discussions, film screenings, conversations, poetry performances and music, bringing together participants from different creative and intellectual backgrounds.

Through the partnership, Sterling Bank said it would continue supporting platforms that encourage African ideas, creativity and innovation while promoting the continent’s participation in global conversations about technology and economic development.

Registration for the 2026 Aké Arts and Book Festival is currently open through the festival’s official website, akefestival.org.