Due to the growing presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in developed countries, this paper looks at the adoption of artificial intelligence for effective library services in academic libraries in Nigeria. The paper describes the concept of artificial intelligence while tracing its origin. It further established the advantage of adopting artificial intelligence in academic libraries which include user-friendly, infinite functions, ability to take complex work among others; and the challenges faced by library management towards the adoption of artificial intelligence which include financial uncertainty, job loss, technological disadvantages among others. The paper concluded that the adoption of AI in academic libraries is setting a new level of efficient and effective library service delivery but the adoption in developing countries such as Nigeria is low due to some of the identified challenges. The paper recommended that government and library management must come together to proffer the way forward for academic libraries in terms of meeting up with the latest standard of the use of AI in libraries; Library staff should be exposed to training and retraining in the use of artificial intelligence in delivering of libraries’ services; among others