Has Digital Marketing Become Too Optimised to Be Memorable? Why Creativity Still Matters in the AI Era

As AI and performance marketing reshape digital advertising, are brands becoming less memorable? Nicole Glover, Executive Creative Director – Digital at Penquin, argues that the industry’s obsession with optimisation and short-term metrics—not artificial intelligence—is driving creative sameness. Discover why balancing data with emotional storytelling is essential for long-term brand growth and marketing effectiveness.

AI has an energy problem – but Africa has an opportunity

AI’s rapid growth is creating unprecedented energy demand as data centres consume increasing amounts of electricity. Matthew Turner of SolarAfrica explains how Africa’s renewable energy potential, including solar, wind and wheeling solutions, can help power the AI revolution sustainably while reducing costs and improving energy security.

The risk of AI tunnel vision in IT efficiency

The risk of AI tunnel vision in IT efficiency explores why focusing solely on AI’s energy consumption overlooks the much larger challenge of improving efficiency across the entire IT estate. As data centre power demand rises in South Africa, organisations must adopt an end-to-end approach that optimises infrastructure, cooling, software, workloads, and data management. The article argues that sustainable IT efficiency is achieved by designing energy efficiency into every layer of traditional and AI infrastructure, enabling greater resilience, lower costs, and scalable digital transformation.

Driven by AI, customers now rival criminals for ecommerce fraud, say merchants

Global ecommerce fraud is entering a new phase as AI accelerates both criminal activity and customer-driven abuse, according to Ravelin’s Global Fraud Trends 2026 report. Merchants now report rising losses—averaging $11.4m annually—as fraud increasingly blurs the line between external attackers and first-party customers. With 64% experiencing AI-enabled fraud and one in three lacking AI defenses, businesses are struggling to keep pace with automated attacks such as card testing, refund abuse, and account takeover. The study highlights a widening “AI gap” in fraud prevention, where merchants lag behind increasingly sophisticated, AI-powered fraud tactics impacting revenue, reputation, and customer trust.

The New AI Strategists: Why Your Next Best Prompt Engineer is Actually a Business Analyst

As organisations race to adopt artificial intelligence, many are overlooking the most valuable people in successful AI implementation: Business Analysts. In this article, Martin Pienaar, COO of Mindworx Academy, argues that the future of AI governance, prompt engineering and human oversight depends less on technical coding skills and more on structured business thinking. Drawing on recent AI failures involving fabricated citations and hallucinated data, the article explains why Business Analysts are uniquely positioned to guide AI systems, validate outputs and ensure accountability in an AI-driven economy.

Kaspersky Warns of Rising AI Cyber Threats in Kenya and East Africa

Kaspersky has warned that the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence across Kenya and Sub-Saharan Africa is driving a new wave of cyber threats, including deepfake fraud, AI-powered social engineering, spyware, ransomware and “Shadow AI” risks within organisations. Speaking at AI Everything Kenya x GITEX Kenya, the cybersecurity company highlighted sharp increases in password stealer and spyware attacks in 2025, while urging businesses to strengthen cybersecurity controls, implement AI governance policies and prioritise employee training to safely manage emerging AI-driven risks.

From AI to capital expenditure reality: Hotel & Hospitality Expo Africa 2026 brings procurement-ready tech to Africa’s hospitality sector

Africa’s hospitality sector is accelerating investment in AI, automation and smart infrastructure as hotels prioritize procurement-ready technology with measurable ROI. The Hotel & Hospitality Expo Africa 2026 in Cape Town will connect over 5,000 hospitality professionals with suppliers offering energy management systems, property management platforms, RFID security, automation tools and foodservice solutions designed to improve operational efficiency, sustainability and guest experience.

Perion, Mediamark and McSorely Media Launch Exclusive AI Advertising Partnership Across Africa

Perion Network, McSorely Media, and Mediamark have launched an exclusive AI advertising partnership across Africa, bringing Perion’s Outmax AI-native execution platform to agencies and brands throughout the continent. The collaboration aims to improve programmatic advertising performance, transparency, and measurable outcomes as Africa’s digital advertising market continues rapid growth.