Ghana's National Film Authority faces backlash over AI video

Ghana's National Film Authority has drawn a public backlash from the country's film industry over a breast cancer awareness campaign video that used the voices of well-known actors and visuals generated entirely with AI.

GhanaWeb reported the video was unveiled on October 27, 2026, and carried the voice talents of actors including Kafui Danku, Adjetey Anang, Fella Makafui and Gloria Safo. Adomonline and Nkonkonsa were already reporting the backlash, and Danku's answer to it, on October 26, so the exact day of release is uncertain and the campaign went out in the last week of October. Danku is also the authority's Executive Secretary, which means the official answering the criticism is one of the performers in the campaign.

GhanaWeb reported the release drew criticism from industry stakeholders, digital critics and local creatives, who questioned why a national body would bypass human production crews. One critic wrote, in a post GhanaWeb quoted: "Why use an AI video when you have thousands of creatives out here?"

The cost defense did not hold. Supporters of the authority said it likely lacked the operating budget to hire a crew, GhanaWeb reported. Industry watchers answered that the Film Development Fund holds a GH¢20 million seed allocation meant to revive the industry, a figure GhanaWeb said Deputy Executive Secretary James Gardiner had confirmed in an interview with Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM. Critics also noted the authority has an operating budget of its own, though GhanaWeb said it is not known whether that budget would cover a creative crew.

Graphic Online reported the fund was launched on May 20, 2026, at Silverbird Cinemas in Accra Mall with a GH¢20 million government seed allocation, and is meant to finance feature film production, training institutions and cinema access. The authority's board chair, filmmaker Ivan Quashigah, said at the launch: "The Film Development Fund must not be misunderstood. It is not a bonanza."

Danku answered in a Facebook post that Adomonline reproduced in full and that The Ghana Report and Nkonkonsa also carried. She wrote that the reaction to her first AI creation revealed fear among some creatives, particularly younger ones who worried the technology would end set work, and that she had expected more curiosity about how the project was built and the prompts behind it.

"AI does not automatically mean fewer opportunities for Ghanaian creatives," Danku wrote. She went further: "If a Ghanaian writer develops the story, a Ghanaian producer brings it to life, Ghanaian actors provide the voices or performances, Ghanaian musicians create the soundtrack, and Ghanaian directors, editors, designers and artists shape the final product, then AI has not necessarily removed Ghanaian creativity." Her summary line was blunt. "It has become another production tool."

She said high production costs, from location rentals and equipment to logistics and large crews, kill many stories before they reach set, and that resisting the technology would not protect the industry. GhanaWeb reported her wider warning: "The bigger danger isn't Ghanaian filmmakers using AI. The bigger danger is the rest of the world mastering these tools while we refuse to engage with them. And then, years from now, we find ourselves consuming AI-generated foreign content because we failed to develop our own capacity."

The authority's leadership has faced organized criticism before. The Association of Ghanaian Creatives petitioned President John Dramani Mahama in March 2025 to revoke the appointments of Danku and Gardiner on the grounds that they lacked the experience for the roles, ModernGhana reported. GhanaWeb reported Danku's response the following month, when she said she and Gardiner had laughed at the petition and doubted its signatories came from the film industry.

The funding channel matters more to crews than the argument does. The authority opened applications for the GH¢20 million Film Development Fund in July 2026, Pulse Ghana reported, with successful applicants eligible for up to 60 percent of a project budget, repaid under agreed terms once a project earns revenue. The fund covers seven areas, and its research and innovation category lists artificial intelligence and virtual production alongside animation and gaming.

For Ghanaian crews, the open question is whether a state funder treats AI-generated visuals as one line in a production budget or as a replacement for the line items that pay carpenters, cinematographers and editors. The authority has said the technology will change some roles. It has not published rules for how its funded projects may use it.

Applications to the GH¢20 million Film Development Fund opened on July 29, 2026; the authority has not said how AI-generated visuals may be used in the projects it finances.