AI will not determine 2027 election outcome – INEC

It stressed that critical electoral decisions would remain under human control.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, gave the assurance on Wednesday while delivering the keynote address at the Artificial Intelligence and Democracy Forum 2026 in Abuja.

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

He added that Nigerians alone had the right to choose their leaders.

He explained that human oversight, legal procedures and judicial review would remain important throughout the electoral process.

The INEC chairman, however, warned that the growing use of AI could pose serious challenges to the credibility of elections, particularly through the spread of fake videos, cloned audio recordings and false information.

He said advances in generative AI had made it easier for people to create convincing videos of candidates making statements they had never made or to impersonate electoral officials to spread false instructions.

Amupitan warned that such content could mislead voters, create confusion and undermine public confidence in the electoral process.

“AI-generated videos or audio recordings could spread false information about a candidate withdrawing from an election, a poll being postponed or voters being told not to come out to vote,” Amupitan said.

He added that criminals could impersonate the INEC chairman, resident electoral commissioners and other officials to circulate fake election guidelines or unauthorised results.

To address these threats, Amupitan disclosed that the commission had established an AI Unit within its Information and Communication Technology Directorate.

He said the unit would use digital monitoring tools, deepfake detection software and data analysis to identify misleading content relating to elections.

Amupitan also urged political parties and candidates to adopt an ethical code on the use of AI, particularly by avoiding deepfakes, fake identities and misleading political advertisements.