Nigeria’s election commission has started using artificial intelligence to catch mistakes in election results before they are officially approved.
INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan announced the move at an editors conference in Enugu, while also warning that fake AI-generated content could shake public trust in the 2027 elections.
The commission has created a dedicated AI division and established guidelines based on human oversight, transparency and data security.
The technology scans election result records automatically, flagging discrepancies and administrative errors for review before final validation.
Amupitan stressed that AI would not replace human officials. Every automated check remains subject to human review and legal verification.
Technology, he said, should strengthen rather than replace the institutions responsible for elections and must always stay under human control.
INEC is also strengthening defences against deepfake videos of election officials, forged result sheets, cloned voice recordings of officials and fabricated documents.
The commission has consulted with Microsoft and Google on cybersecurity and worked with international election groups on technical capacity building.
The real danger of synthetic disinformation, Amupitan warned, is not just that it deceives people about one fact but that it destroys public trust in the entire system.
Possible threats ahead of 2027 include fake videos of officials announcing results, audio recordings falsely directing manipulation of voting devices, forged letters announcing postponements and altered result sheets.
The 2027 elections will be more challenging than previous ones because voting happens across 36 states and the federal capital.
Presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, 2027, with governorship and state assembly elections on February 6.
Amupitan urged journalists to prioritise accuracy over speed when reporting elections.
He called on media outlets to set up fact-checking teams and adopt deepfake detection software and image analysis tools ahead of the elections.
