The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is strengthening its safeguards against deepfakes, AI-generated audio and other forms of digital misinformation ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, said the commission was developing measures to address the growing risks artificial intelligence poses to electoral integrity, including the spread of fabricated videos, cloned voices, impersonation and cyber threats.
Speaking at the AI and Democracy Forum 2026 in Abuja, organised in partnership with Yiaga Africa, Amupitan stressed that technology must not undermine the power of citizens to determine electoral outcomes.
He said the 2027 elections would be decided by voters, not algorithms, warning that the misuse of artificial intelligence could distort public debate, mislead voters and erode confidence in the electoral process.
However, the INEC chairman noted that AI could also improve election administration through logistics planning, auditing, voter education in local languages, detection of duplicate records and improved accessibility for voters with disabilities.
To address emerging threats, Amupitan disclosed that INEC had established an Artificial Intelligence Unit within its Information and Communication Technology Directorate.
The unit is expected to support digital monitoring, deepfake detection and data analytics as the commission prepares for the elections.
He added that INEC would retain human oversight of critical electoral decisions, ruling out the full automation of processes such as voter accreditation, result determination and candidate qualification.
According to him, maintaining human accountability and judicial review is essential to ensuring transparency and public confidence in election administration.
Amupitan also called on technology companies to take greater responsibility for election-related content by appropriately labelling synthetic media and restricting the misuse of political advertising microtargeting.
He proposed the establishment of an Electoral Information Integrity Coalition to strengthen collaboration among electoral authorities, civil society organisations, technology companies and other stakeholders in tackling digital disinformation.
The chairman further urged political parties to commit to an ethical code governing the use of artificial intelligence during the electioneering period.
The safeguards come as INEC prepares to manage an electoral process involving more than 103 million registered voters across 774 local government areas and 176,846 polling units.
Amupitan said the commission had completed 10 of the 14 milestones on its election preparation schedule and had processed more than 15,000 candidate nominations submitted by 22 political parties.
INEC has also procured additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices as part of its preparations for the 2027 elections.