article · Media and Communication
Locally built artificial intelligence tools are emerging across the Global South to counter the dominance of systems developed in the Global North. In Nigeria, organisations have created specialised tools, including ChatJourno, Dubawa Chatbot, ChatVE, and MyAIFactChecker, to address regional journalistic needs. An evaluation combining developer interviews with usability tests by 15 trained journalists examined whether these solutions effectively tackle real-world newsroom challenges. The findings indicate that the platforms target critical workflows, such as accelerating fact-checking and news drafting, yet their real-world performance remains mixed. Although several systems feature accessible interfaces, users encountered critical shortcomings, including incomplete or outdated data and malfunctioning features. Broad newsroom adoption relies on addressing these technical shortcomings, as journalists require reliable, fully operational tools that actively enhance reporting and verification standards.
Artificial intelligence developed in the Global North often overlooks the operational realities of African media. Assessing homegrown tools provides essential guidance for creating reliable technologies tailored to regional challenges. Ensuring these systems work effectively helps newsrooms speed up verification, tackle misinformation, and maintain reporting quality without relying entirely on unsuitable external software.
The evaluated tools represent applied, functional software products directly targeted at media organisations, fact-checkers, and journalists. Although currently deployed or tested with end-users, these solutions require technical refinement to resolve broken features and outdated data integrations before scaling commercially. Further development must prioritise product reliability and robust database updates to secure viable adoption across commercial newsrooms.
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Artificial intelligence (AI) models for journalism have been built within the Global North context, hence deepening the concerns of the “AI divide” between the North and South. This has compelled organizations in various areas of the Global South to develop journalism-focused AI models to address the specific challenges peculiar to journalism practice within the region. Nigeria stands out within the Global South context because organizations are developing local AI models to empower local journalists. However, the extent to which these AI products can address real-life journalistic challenges is unknown; hence, this study assesses how well locally developed AI models are positioned to support journalists in Nigeria, using a purposive sample of four homegrown tools: ChatJourno, Dubawa Chatbot, ChatVE, and MyAIFactChecker. Employing a mixed-methods design, we conducted walkthrough usability tests by engaging 15 trained journalists who provided rigorous assessments of the functionalities of each tool. We then conducted semi-structured interviews with the developers of each of the tools to assess each platform’s vision and directly cross-check those claims against the test-users’ evidence. Findings show the tools generally aim to complement Nigerian newsroom needs, such as improving news drafting and accelerating verification, but their realized value is uneven. While some of the platforms offer usable interfaces and services, some common limitations include gaps in up-to-date data and unusable features. We conclude that the tools must reliably achieve their promised functions because usability strongly drives user acceptance, and mass newsroom adoption will follow only when tools demonstrably enhance content standards in news practice.
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DOI: 10.17645/mac.12417
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