Kenya leads the world in artificial intelligence adoption. It also leads in an inability to detect what AI produces. Those two facts, sitting side by side in separate reports released within months of each other, define the most consequential tension in Kenya’s media landscape right now.
According to the 2026 Global Digital Report by DataReportal and Meltwater, 42.1 percent of Kenyan internet users aged 16 and above used ChatGPT in the past month, placing the country at the top globally, ahead of the UAE at 42 percent and Israel at 41.4 percent. Tech analyst Moses Kemibaro attributes the ranking to three factors: a young and mobile-first population, a growing gig economy, and the free access model that ChatGPT offers. Kenya also ranks third globally in ChatGPT website traffic.
That is one picture of Kenya and AI. The Media Council of Kenya’s State of Media Kenya 2025 report, drawn from 3,774 respondents across all 47 counties between 15 and 23 April 2026, paints a different one. Fifty-nine percent of Kenyans know that AI is being used in media production. Yet 63 percent cannot identify AI-generated content when they encounter it. Only 37 percent say they can tell the difference between what a journalist wrote and what a machine generated.
A country that uses AI more than any other on earth, and cannot spot what it produces, has a problem. Not a future problem. A present one.
The gap between use and detection
The numbers from both reports describe the same population approaching AI from two directions at once. On one side, Kenyans use ChatGPT for coursework, report writing, email drafting, coding, and content creation at a rate that outpaces the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and Japan. Kenya’s median age sits at around 20, and Gen Z and millennials drive adoption across education and the gig economy. LinkedIn
On the other side, the Media Council survey finds that 61 percent of Kenyans have used AI-powered media platforms, 34 percent occasionally and 27 percent regularly. Most engage with them without the tools to assess what they are consuming. Forty-eight percent say AI has improved their media experience, 34 percent report no change, and 12 percent describe a negative impact. The 63 percent who cannot identify AI-generated content likely span all three groups.
The report names this the AI Awareness Gap and describes it directly: the growing distance between awareness and detection capability presents a significant risk to public information integrity. That finding lands with particular weight in a country that simultaneously ranks as the world’s most active user of the tools generating that content.
Misinformation already tops public concern
The AI detection gap does not sit in isolation. It compounds a public that already names misinformation as its primary worry. Twenty-eight percent of respondents cite the spread of false and misleading information as their top concern about the media, tied exactly with inadequate and diverse coverage of key issues. Seventeen percent cite bias in reporting. Ten percent each flag the high frequency of adverts and regulation and freedom of expression concerns.
The report is clear about where this anxiety comes from. Among the 46 percent who consider media coverage of government unfair, the dominant reasons are editorial compromise: 13 percent say reporting is biased, 6 percent believe information is withheld, and 4 percent say the media spreads false information or propaganda. A further strand of distrust runs deeper, rooted not in journalism practice but in structural fear: 7 percent say the government owns media houses, 5 percent say media organisations fear the government, and 2 percent believe the government can restrict what airs.
Kenyans are aware that the information environment contains problems. The AI literacy gap adds a layer of vulnerability that awareness alone cannot address. Knowing that AI exists in media, which 59 percent of respondents do, does not protect against consuming AI-generated content uncritically if you cannot identify it when it appears.
Social media is where most of this content lands
The delivery mechanism for AI-generated content in Kenya is not a news website. It is a mobile phone and a social media feed. Seventy-four percent of Kenyans use social and digital media platforms, a figure that has held steady from 74.9 percent in 2024. The report describes this as a plateau of penetration: digital adoption has consolidated at roughly three quarters of the national population. The contest now is not about getting users online. It is about where they go once connected.
Social media accounts for 27 percent of weekly media consumption, overtaking television at 25 percent and radio at 19 percent. As a primary news source, social media reaches 39 percent of Kenyans, up from 37 percent in 2024, while radio fell from 26 percent to 21 percent over the same period. WhatsApp leads all platforms at 19.8 percent weekly reach, followed by Facebook at 18.2 percent, TikTok at 14.9 percent, YouTube at 12.3 percent, and Instagram at 8.3 percent.
The depth of engagement matters as much as reach. Forty-four percent of Kenyans spend more than three hours daily on social media platforms, with 23 percent spending more than five hours. The report notes that social media now possesses the attention volume to function as a primary broadcast medium. On the question of what Kenyans use social media for, news ranks second at 69 percent, just behind entertainment and lifestyle at 72 percent. The feed serves both purposes simultaneously, and the report makes the implication clear: the intersection of news and entertainment in a single unmoderated environment is precisely where misinformation moves fastest and where the AI detection gap does its most damage.
Ninety-one percent of Kenyans access digital media through a mobile phone. The report states the implication plainly: if content is not optimised for a six-inch vertical screen, it effectively does not exist. That is the device through which most Kenyans encounter AI-generated content, and through which 63 percent of them currently have no way to identify it.
Television loses its daily hold
Daily television viewership fell six percentage points in a single year, from 63 percent in 2024 to 57 percent in 2025. The report notes this follows a 13 percent drop between 2023 and 2024, suggesting the decline is accelerating across multiple years rather than representing a one-off shift. Forty-three percent of the population no longer watches linear television on a typical day, up from 37 percent in 2024.
Among those who do watch, 73 percent concentrate their viewing between 7PM and 10PM. Morning viewing between 6 and 10AM accounts for 20 percent, afternoon viewing for 16 percent, and late morning for 11 percent. The report describes prime time as the undisputed, monolithic anchor of the Kenyan broadcast landscape. Outside that window, television audiences fragment rapidly.
Citizen Television holds 56 percent audience share by first-choice ranking, up from 53.3 percent in 2024. NTV follows at 8 percent, with KTN Home and Inooro TV each at 7 percent. The report frames this as a winner-takes-most market: more than half of all Kenyans name a single station as their most watched. On weekly reach, Citizen TV extends to 82 percent of viewers, NTV to 55 percent, and KTN Home to 41 percent, figures that reflect habitual viewing even among audiences who do not rank them first.
The data on how Kenyans access television reveals a further structural change. Forty-seven percent still use a set-top box for free-to-air or pay TV. But 32 percent now access television through digital and online platforms including YouTube and Facebook, and 30 percent through digital TV apps. Traditional infrastructure leads, but nearly two thirds of television access now involves a digital pathway.
On editorial positioning, 80 percent of Kenyans support television outlets taking a position on matters of public interest, with only 20 percent opposing this. The JKL Show influences public opinion most at 24 percent, followed closely by the General News Segment at 23 percent, News Gang at 13 percent, and political talk shows at 9 percent. The report observes that flagship talk shows and anchor news segments hold disproportionate influence over national discourse.
Radio falls faster than television
Radio’s decline is steeper than television’s. Daily listenership dropped from 57 percent in 2024 to 41 percent in 2025, following a fall from 75 percent in 2023. Fifty-nine percent of Kenyans do not listen to radio on a typical day. The report describes this as a severe contraction.
Among those who still listen, 55 percent do so between 6 and 10AM, making the morning window the dominant battleground for radio audiences. Evening listening between 7 and 10PM accounts for 36 percent. Listening then drops sharply through the day, reaching 4 percent in the late night and overnight slots.
Radio Maisha now leads on weekly station reach at 48 percent, displacing Radio Citizen which led at 29 percent in 2024 and has dropped to 42 percent. Radio Jambo sits at 46 percent. On primary listenership ranking, Radio Citizen retains first place at 17 percent, followed by Radio Jambo at 14 percent, and Radio Maisha and Kameme FM both at 12 percent.
The report maps Kenyan radio into three tiers. Radio Maisha, Radio Jambo, and Radio Citizen form the top tier with broad demographic appeal and national reach. Kameme FM, Inooro FM, Milele FM, and Kass FM occupy the middle tier, commanding intense regional loyalty through language and cultural alignment. Classic 105, Kiss 100, Ramogi FM, and Bahari FM serve targeted urban and localised audiences at the base tier.
Regionally, the Rift Valley records the highest listening intensity across all time categories. Nairobi and North Eastern show the lowest engagement, reflecting urban transitions to digital platforms. Central region shows total vernacular dominance, with Kameme and Inooro leading. The Coast shows a national and local hybrid pattern with no single station dominating. The report describes Nairobi’s radio audience as digital defectors: a population that has moved to other platforms and largely left radio behind.
Seventy-nine percent of Kenyans support radio outlets taking positions on matters of public interest. The report cautions that the 21 percent who oppose this represents a risk: advocacy must remain grounded in evidence-based reporting to avoid perceptions of bias.
Print reaches a point of no return
Weekly newspaper readership stood at 13 percent in 2025, down from 20 percent in 2024, 26 percent in 2023, and 29 percent in 2022. The report describes the national print audience as having eroded significantly, with no sign of stabilisation. Each year the decline accelerates.
The geography of what remains tells its own story. Rift Valley and Nyanza record the highest print retention at 15 percent each. Nairobi sits at 10 percent, described by the report as an urban digital shift. Eastern records the most severe decline at 7 percent. Urban centres have effectively abandoned print for digital, while Rift Valley and Nyanza remain the final strongholds for physical newspaper circulation.
Among the 13 percent who still read newspapers, Daily Nation commands 80 percent reach within that group, The Standard 55 percent, Taifa Leo 37 percent, and People Daily 22 percent. On primary readership ranking, Daily Nation holds 49 percent, up from 44.4 percent in 2024. The Standard holds 18 percent, Taifa Leo 9 percent. As the overall market contracts, brand loyalty concentrates on the two dominant nationals.
What drives the remaining readers is hard news and political analysis. Forty-five percent cite news as their primary reason for buying a newspaper, and 26 percent cite politics. The report notes that 71 percent of all newspaper purchases are driven strictly by the need for hard news and political depth, not entertainment. Only 24 percent of buyers maintain a daily purchasing habit, with 35 percent buying two to three times a week and 32 percent once weekly.
On format, 67 percent still access newspapers as hard copies. Twenty-one percent read through news websites and 12 percent through e-paper. The report notes that print is no longer strictly physical: nearly a third of dedicated readers have moved to digital formats, but they still seek the credibility of print delivered at the pace of digital.
Eighty-one percent of newspaper readers support print outlets taking positions on matters of public interest. The mandate for editorial courage runs consistently across all media platforms in this survey.
Trust recovers but the foundation is conditional
Seventy-nine percent of Kenyans express some or a great deal of trust in the media in 2025, up from 74.5 percent in 2024. Within that figure, 58 percent express some trust and 21 percent a lot of trust. Those expressing no trust at all fell from 5.3 percent to 4 percent. The report positions media among the most relied-upon institutions in the country.
The shift in perceptions of government coverage is sharper. Those who consider media coverage of government unfair fell from 73.6 percent in 2024 to 46 percent in 2025, a 27 percentage point change. Fifty-four percent now consider coverage fair. The report describes this as a significant credibility gain, noting that in 2024 nearly three in four Kenyans perceived government coverage as unfair.
Among those who find coverage fair, the reasons split between a transparency function and an accountability function. Ten percent say the media gives out important information and 9 percent say it highlights government projects. Eleven percent say the information is unbiased, 3 percent say it helps hold leaders accountable, and 2 percent say it acts as a voice of the people.
When asked which media outlet they trust most for information, 59 percent of Kenyans name Royal Media Services, the group behind Citizen TV, Radio Citizen, Inooro TV, Inooro FM, and Ramogi FM. KBC follows at 9 percent, Standard Group at 8 percent, and Nation Media Group at 7 percent. The concentration of trust in a single media group mirrors the concentration of viewership in a single television station.
On what drives that trust, 45 percent cite content relevance and public interest, 33 percent information timeliness and delivery, 29 percent credibility and reputation, 21 percent professionalism and journalism quality, and 14 percent editorial independence and integrity. Kenyans value speed and relevance above everything else, with editorial independence ranking last. That ordering is worth noting in a media environment where AI can deliver fast, relevant content at scale, but cannot guarantee independence or integrity.
What Kenyans celebrate about their media reinforces the same pattern. Freedom of the media ranks first at 34 percent, followed by quick dissemination of information at 26 percent, platform diversification and technology use each at 16 percent, and professionalism at just 6 percent. The report draws a sharp conclusion from this: Kenyans appreciate the infrastructure of their media, fast, free, and accessible, but remain highly sceptical of the human execution and ethical standards behind the content.
What the two reports say together
Kemibaro’s analysis of Kenya’s AI adoption describes a young, connected population running toward new technology faster than any other country on earth. The Media Council survey describes the same population consuming media in an environment where the tools generating content are outpacing the literacy needed to assess it.
Kenya does not have an AI access problem. With 42.1 percent of internet users already on ChatGPT and mobile internet penetration above 48 percent, access is settled. What Kenya has is an AI literacy problem, and the Media Council data makes clear it is already active in the spaces where most Kenyans get their news. Social media feeds carrying AI-generated content, consumed on mobile phones by an audience spending an average of more than three hours a day on those platforms, by a population of which 63 percent cannot identify what AI produced, and 28 percent of whom already cite misinformation as their top concern. Those conditions do not describe a future risk. They describe the current state of Kenya’s information environment.
The trust gains recorded in 2025 are real. They are also reversible. Trust built on an audience that cannot distinguish journalism from machine-generated content rests on ground that AI-driven misinformation can undercut quickly. The intervention the report calls for is not a technology investment. It is an education one. Media literacy programmes that reach the same mobile-first, social media-native population that already leads the world in AI use need to move at the same pace as the adoption they are responding to.
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