INEC, others seek safeguards against AI threats to 2027 elections

A forum on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and democracy has warned that deepfakes, cloned voices and coordinated disinformation could undermine Nigeria’s 2027 general elections, calling for stronger safeguards to protect voters and electoral integrity.

The warning is contained in the outcome document of the AI and Democracy Forum 2026, organised by Yiaga Africa and partners in Abuja from 14 to 16 October.

The forum brought together the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), and Dataphyte Foundation, with support from Luminate, Microsoft, Google, TikTok, the MacArthur Foundation, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) to examine the risks and opportunities of AI in elections.

Participants identified AI-generated electoral announcements, fabricated political content and targeted manipulation as threats to informed voter participation. They also warned that genuine evidence could be dismissed as synthetic, further complicating efforts to establish the truth.

Despite these risks, the forum identified potential benefits of AI in election logistics, voter information, cybersecurity, accessibility and the detection of duplicate voter registrations and unusual result patterns.

However, it cautioned that errors in biometric matching or the extraction of figures from result sheets could affect voting rights, undermine the credibility of results and erode public trust.

The forum therefore called for human verification and compliance with legally prescribed procedures, stressing that AI-generated alerts about duplicate registrations or anomalous results should trigger human review rather than automatic deletion or rejection.

“Africa needs context-sensitive governance and homegrown innovation. Regional cooperation, public-interest research and local technical capacity should shape adoption rather than passive dependence on external vendors,” the report said.

INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan said algorithms must not determine the outcome of the 2027 elections, insisting that AI should support rather than replace human decision-making.

“Algorithms will not, and must never, decide the 2027 vote,” he said.

According to the outcome document, INEC committed to finalising an AI governance framework, adopting a binding human oversight principle and deploying AI-powered cybersecurity measures against attacks on its systems.

The commission also proposed an Electoral Information Integrity Coalition involving media organisations, editors, fact-checkers, civil society groups and telecommunications operators to strengthen responses to election-related disinformation.

The forum urged INEC to publish its AI governance framework and a transparent protocol explaining how physical result sheets would be captured, electronically processed, verified and collated, including how discrepancies would be resolved.

It also recommended independent pre-election audits of electoral technology, transparent procurement and clear accountability for technology vendors.

Microsoft, meanwhile, committed to uploading INEC’s final list of candidates for the 2027 elections into its systems and databases to help restrict the generation of misleading synthetic images of candidates.

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Technology platforms were also urged to label AI-generated political content, improve political advertising transparency, strengthen moderation in Nigerian languages and respond quickly to deceptive impersonation.

The forum further called on political parties and candidates to adopt an ethical AI code of conduct, while urging newsrooms to establish digital forensics desks and expand public education on identifying manipulated content.

At the regional level, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its Network of Electoral Commissions committed to finalising unified guidelines for the responsible use of AI in West African elections.

The forum concluded that institutional preparedness, transparent systems, competent election officials and effective oversight would be crucial to ensuring that AI strengthens rather than undermines Nigeria’s 2027 elections.