AI Governance and the Future of Creative Practice: African and Global Perspectives

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly transforming creative practice across music, visual arts, film, fashion, literature, and digital media. While these technologies offer new modes of production and dissemination, they also generate profound legal, economic, and cultural challenges. Central among these challenges is AI governance, understood as the constellation of policies, ethical frameworks, and regulatory mechanisms that shape how AI systems are developed, deployed, and regulated. This paper examines the implications of AI governance for creative practice from African and global perspectives. It focuses on three interrelated domains: intellectual property and authorship, creative labour and economic equity, and cultural representation and algorithmic bias. Drawing on verifiable interdisciplinary scholarship and policy literature, the paper argues that inclusive, context-sensitive AI governance is essential to ensuring sustainable creative ecosystems, protecting cultural diversity, and supporting equitable participation in the global creative economy. The study positions creative practitioners as critical stakeholders in AI governance and contributes to ongoing debates on technology, culture, and global creative impact.