"How Ghana\u2019s AI Strategy Can Preserve Cultural Heritage: Spotlight on the Asante Kingdom"

" How Ghana\u2019s AI Strategy Can Preserve Cultural Heritage: Spotlight on the Asante Kingdom \r\n\r\nThe Digital Future Meets Ancient Wisdom\r\nGhana is stepping boldly into the AI era. With the development of the National AI Strategy (2025\u20132035), the country is making strategic moves to harness artificial intelligence for inclusive growth, youth empowerment, public sector innovation, and more importantly leveraging strategy for cultural preservation.\r\n\r\nToo often, we think of AI only in terms of smart grids, healthcare algorithms, or agricultural tech. But one of its most powerful applications may be in safeguarding what offers us comparative and competitive advantages: our heritage, our languages, our stories.\r\n\r\nAnd there\u2019s no better example to explore this than the Asante Kingdom\u2014a living repository of Ghanaian tradition, identity, and indigenous knowledge.\r\n\r\n AI + Culture: A Surprisingly Perfect Match \r\n\r\nArtificial Intelligence is a powerful tool for documentation, interpretation, and accessibility. In Ghana\u2019s AI Strategy, Pillar 7 explicitly calls for applied AI research, including the creation of a Natural Language Processing (NLP) Centre of Excellence.\r\n\r\nThis is a huge opportunity for preserving and promoting Ghana\u2019s intangible heritage\u2014especially languages, oral traditions, and communal wisdom.\r\n\r\nWith the right implementation, AI can:\r\n\u25cf Digitise oral histories in local languages like Asante Twi\r\n\r\n\u25cf Translate indigenous knowledge systems into formats accessible to younger generations\r\n\r\n\u25cf Create immersive AR\/VR experiences that showcase festivals like Akwasidae\r\n\r\n\u25cf Preserve artifacts and manuscripts from places like the Manhyia Palace Museum using AI-enhanced archiving\r\n\r\n The Asante Kingdom: A Cultural Powerhouse \r\n\r\nThe Asante Kingdom, founded in the 17th century, is more than history\u2014it\u2019s a living culture. From the symbolic Kente cloth to the powerful Golden Stool, and from complex customary laws to the rhythmic storytelling of drumming, the Asante represent a deep and well-preserved African knowledge system.\r\n\r\nImagine a future where:\r\n\r\n\u25cf You can ask a chatbot questions in Asante Twi and receive culturally relevant responses\r\n\r\n\u25cf School children explore Asante mythology through AI-powered storytelling apps\r\n\r\n\u25cf Legal researchers use semantic AI tools to interpret traditional custoy,mary laws\r\n\r\n\u25cf Historians collaborate with AI models trained to analyse patterns in oral narratives and folklore\r\nThis is not science fiction. It\u2019s within reach\u2014and Ghana\u2019s AI Strategy gives us the roadmap.\r\nConnecting the Dots: AI Strategy Meets Cultural Heritage\r\n\r\nThough the strategy doesn\u2019t list \u201cculture\u201d as a key sector, it provides critical enablers that cultural innovators can leverage:\r\n\r\n\u25cf Pillar 4: Data Access & Governance\r\n\r\nEnables ethical digitisation and sharing of indigenous data.\r\n\r\n\u25cf Pillar 5: Robust AI Ecosystem\r\n\r\nSupports collaboration between traditional leaders, AI labs, and universities.\r\n\r\n\u25cf Pillar 6: Sectoral AI Adoption\r\n\r\nEncourages pilots that can showcase AI for heritage conservation.\r\n\r\n\u25cf Pillar 1: AI Education\r\n\r\nOpens doors for youth to engage in cultural tech innovation.\r\n\r\n What Could Go Wrong? \r\n\r\nAs promising as this sounds, we need to proceed with caution:\r\n\r\n\u25cf Who owns the data? Community involvement is a must. AI projects should not be extracted without consent.\r\n\r\n\u25cf Is the AI culturally competent? Models trained on foreign data could misrepresent Ghanaian symbols or expressions.\r\n\r\n\u25cf Can rural areas access it? Infrastructure gaps must be addressed to avoid deepening digital divides.\r\n\r\nEthical AI development, as emphasised in the strategy, is non-negotiable.\r\n\r\n What Needs to Happen Next \r\n\r\nHere\u2019s how Ghana can turn this vision into reality:\r\n\r\n 1. Create an AI and Culture Pilot Program \r\nUnder the Responsible AI Office, initiatives to document and digitise oral traditions will be launched.\r\n\r\n 2. Partner with Traditional Institutions \r\nCollaborate with the Manhyia Palace, KNUST, and Ghana NLP to train AI on local languages and culture.\r\n\r\n 3. Support Youth-Led Cultural Tech Startups \r\nOffer tax incentives and funding to innovators building educational apps, heritage archives, and AR experiences.\r\n\r\n 4. Embed Cultural Learning in the Curriculum \r\nUse AI to teach Ghanaian history, languages, and values in engaging, tech-forward ways.\r\n\r\n Culture is Ghana\u2019s Superpower \r\n\r\nAI should not just be about catching up with Silicon Valley. It should be about using tech to amplify Ghana\u2019s identity, empower its youth, and project its cultural voice onto the global stage.\r\n\r\nBy aligning AI innovation with cultural preservation, Ghana is not only preparing for a digital future\u2014it is rooting that future in the wisdom of its past. The Asante Kingdom shows us what is possible. The AI Strategy shows us how.\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s preserve our stories while building our future. That\u2019s the Ghanaian way.\r\n\r\n Author Biography\u00a0 \r\n\r\n Yaw Adu-Gyamfi is an innovation ecosystem enabler, and an Asante Diplomacy Historian from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology ( KNUST). Yaw is passionate about technology, culture, and inclusive development in Africa. He can be reached via yagyamfi@gmail.com "

"How Ghana\u2019s AI Strategy Can Preserve Cultural Heritage: Spotlight on the Asante Kingdom"

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