The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has raised concerns over the growing use of artificial intelligence to spread election-related misinformation, warning that easily accessible AI tools could be exploited to deceive voters and undermine confidence in the 2027 general elections.
The commission’s Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, said advances in generative AI had made it increasingly easy for individuals to create convincing but fabricated content, including cloned voices of prominent personalities and videos showing electoral officials making announcements they never issued.
Amupitan spoke on Monday, November 2, at The Beyond the Ballot Summit in Abuja, where he highlighted the emerging threats posed by digital technology to electoral integrity.
He warned that sophisticated manipulation, which previously required considerable technical expertise and financial resources, could now be carried out at relatively little cost.
“However, the rabid democratisation of generative AI models has dramatically lowered the barrier to entry for malicious actors, capacities, capabilities that want to require speedy-level intelligence resources such as high voice cloning of public figures, hyper realistic synthesis of election officials making false announcements are now accessible at negligible cost. These tools target specific vulnerabilities with distinct timelines,” he said.
According to the INEC chairman, such developments could create opportunities for malicious actors to impersonate public officials, circulate fabricated electoral information and mislead voters, particularly through social media platforms.
Despite these concerns, Amupitan maintained that artificial intelligence should not be regarded as inherently harmful to democratic governance.
“Artificial Intelligence, AI, is not an enemy of democracy,” he said.
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He explained that election management bodies in different parts of the world were already using AI-assisted systems to improve administrative operations and strengthen electoral planning.
Among the areas where the technology could prove useful, he identified voter registration, logistics coordination, data analysis and the management of extensive voter databases.
His position comes as INEC moves towards incorporating artificial intelligence into Nigeria’s electoral framework ahead of the 2027 elections.
The commission has said its adoption of the technology would be guided by the need to improve the efficiency, transparency and credibility of the electoral process while addressing the risks of digital manipulation.
The debate has also been fuelled by recent concerns over the integrity of INEC’s preliminary Register of Voters following the discovery of questionable photographs in some registration records.
The images, suspected to have been generated using artificial intelligence, were identified in voter records from Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State.
The discovery raised questions about the procedures for capturing and verifying voters’ information and how manipulated images entered the database.
INEC acknowledged the irregularities and commenced an investigation into the matter.
The commission’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Lawrence Bayode, said some of the suspicious images were linked to alleged misconduct by registration officers who had access to the system.
INEC has maintained that the voter register is still provisional and will undergo further verification, data cleaning and corrections before the final version is certified.