2027: Yiaga Africa urges INEC to tackle AI misinformation

Yiaga Africa, an organization, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to enhance the skills of its staff in detecting and combating misinformation generated by artificial intelligence (AI) before the 2027 general elections. The organization's Director of Programmes, Cynthia Mbamalu, emphasized that INEC needed to bolster the digital literacy of personnel managing its information technology departments and social media platforms.

This is crucial for the commission to respond effectively to emerging threats, as the rapid evolution of AI demands technical knowledge to identify manipulated content and deploy appropriate tools to counter it. She highlighted that INEC must equip its personnel with the capability to utilize AI tools to detect and counter manipulated content.

Moreover, she stressed the importance of improving INEC's response to misleading information, citing the recent controversy surrounding images purportedly taken from the voters' register. Some individuals circulated images that were not from the register, causing concerns about fictitious information. Mbamalu recommended that INEC provide timely clarification to counter such issues, emphasizing that remaining silent could lead to those untruths going viral.