The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has said artificial intelligence (AI) must not determine the outcome of the 2027 general election. He pledged to work with civil society groups and technology firms to protect the poll.
Amupitan spoke in Abuja at the AI Democracy Forum. Yiaga Africa, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) and DataHyte Foundation organised the event. Its theme was “Will Algorithms Determine the 2027 Vote?”
He said technology should serve democracy, not replace the will of voters. The choice of who leads Nigeria, he added, belongs only to Nigerians.
INEC Outlines Scale of 2027 Election
Amupitan described the 2027 election as one of the most complex exercises the commission has handled. It will involve more than 103 million registered voters and 176,846 polling units nationwide.
INEC has bought additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines. It has also processed over 15,000 candidate nominations from 22 political parties through its electronic portal.
According to him, AI can help in several ways. It can improve logistics planning, supply chain monitoring and cybersecurity. It can also help detect irregularities in result sheets and flag duplicate voter records. In addition, it can make voter education materials available in local languages.
“Hacking of the Voter’s Mind”
However, Amupitan warned about misuse. He listed deepfake videos, cloned audio, automated social media accounts and targeted disinformation as major risks. In his words, the greatest threat is not the hacking of a ballot box but of the voter’s mind.
He said fake recordings of candidates, election officials or security agents could spread fast and erode public trust. He also raised concern about AI being used to exploit ethnic, religious and economic divisions. Opaque algorithms, he added, could introduce bias into election administration and produce decisions that are hard to audit.
To respond, INEC has set up an AI unit within its ICT Directorate. The unit will use monitoring tools, deepfake detection software and data analytics. The commission is also developing a digital strategy and working with platforms to debunk falsehoods and label AI-generated election content.
Amupitan assured Nigerians that no critical electoral decision will be fully automated. This covers result collation, voter accreditation and candidate qualification.
Calls on Tech Firms, Parties, Media and Judiciary
The INEC chairman urged Meta, X, Google, TikTok and Telegram to do more against election disinformation. He asked them to improve detection of synthetic impersonation and make political advertising more transparent. He also wants them to restrict manipulative targeting based on sensitive personal traits.
Political parties and candidates, he said, should sign an ethical AI code of conduct. Media organisations should set up digital forensic desks. Security agencies should strengthen cybercrime and digital forensics capacity. The judiciary should prepare for disputes involving AI-generated evidence.
“Speed must never compromise verification,” he said.
Yiaga Africa Warns Against Parallel Results
The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, said public trust in elections remains low. He linked this partly to technical glitches in the 2023 elections. Even so, he noted that AI could help rebuild confidence if properly used.
He commended INEC for its leadership but cautioned that technology is only as reliable as the people running it. A compromised operator, he said, will produce compromised results.
Itodo also raised concern about AI platforms that aggregate election results. Independent groups may monitor and collate results, he said, but they must not take over INEC’s role. Only the commission can declare winners, because the law says so.
Partners Stress Trust and Cooperation
Luminate’s Tarri Wills said technology should work for people, not harm them. The European Union’s Vittorio Capaci said AI is not a threat in itself but can fuel disinformation and deepfakes if misused.
Abdoulaye Sylla, who chairs Senegal’s electoral commission and the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions, said Africa must ensure AI strengthens election credibility. He called for AI literacy, stronger safeguards and wider cooperation. He also said the network recognises the need for continental guidelines on AI in elections.
