2027 Poll: INEC Fears AI-Powered Disinformation

The Independent National Electoral Commission has warned that artificial intelligence-driven disinformation could pose a serious threat to the credibility of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections, urging stronger coordination between electoral technology and communication.

INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, raised the concern in Abuja during the 13th Annual International Conference of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria.

The conference focused on media, technology and elections in Africa, with discussions centred on the growing impact of digital disruption on electoral communication.

Amupitan, represented by National Commissioner Sani Adam, said the credibility of the electoral process depends not only on the integrity of ballots, accreditation systems and result sheets, but also on whether voters understand and trust the information surrounding elections.

He noted that technologies such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and the INEC Result Viewing Portal were introduced to strengthen transparency. However, he acknowledged that technology can also become a source of public doubt when systems underperform or voters do not understand how they work.

The INEC chairman said the commission was conducting a comprehensive audit of its electoral technology systems ahead of 2027. The exercise includes assessments of system redundancy, penetration testing and disaster recovery arrangements.

The commission is also considering a mock presidential election to test voter accreditation, result transmission and result viewing under conditions similar to election day.

Amupitan expressed particular concern about generative artificial intelligence, which can produce convincing synthetic audio, video and images capable of misleading voters. He said manipulated content had become cheaper to create and increasingly difficult to detect, with fabricated political material already appearing during recent electoral cycles in parts of Africa.

He warned that the threat goes beyond obvious deepfakes. AI-powered algorithmic microtargeting can deliver different, even contradictory, political messages to narrowly defined groups of voters without a shared factual basis.

Such content, he said, could spread to millions of social media users before fact-checkers or electoral authorities have enough time to verify and counter it.

To address the challenge, INEC proposed a five-point strategy involving integration of technology and communication planning, rapid responses to falsehoods, disclosure of vulnerabilities and safeguards, collaboration with media scholars, fact-checkers and technology platforms, and continuous investment in public media literacy.