The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has warned that artificial intelligence (AI) could influence voters’ choices in the 2027 general elections, despite insisting that technology cannot determine who wins.
Amupitan spoke on Wednesday in Abuja at the Artificial Intelligence and Democracy Forum, organised by Yiaga Africa, where he delivered a keynote address on protecting the 2027 elections against emerging technological threats.
He maintained that the power to elect Nigeria’s leaders rests with the electorate, warning that AI could nevertheless manipulate the information voters rely on to make political decisions.
“Algorithms will not, and must never, decide the 2027 vote. Algorithms will not decide the vote, because the choice of who leads Nigeria belongs exclusively to the Nigerian people,” he said.
The INEC chairman, however, cautioned against underestimating the growing influence of AI on election campaigns, political communication and electoral operations.
He identified deepfakes, fabricated audio recordings, fake videos, targeted disinformation, automated social media accounts and cyberattacks as potential threats to the credibility of the 2027 polls.
According to him, advances in generative AI have made it easier for malicious actors to produce convincing fake content capable of misleading voters, impersonating election officials and spreading false information about electoral procedures.
He warned that such material could be deployed to circulate fake notices announcing election postponements, falsely claim that candidates had withdrawn from the race or spread inflammatory messages capable of triggering ethnic and religious tensions.
“The greatest threat we face is not the hacking of a ballot box, but the hacking of the voter’s mind,” Amupitan said.
He also expressed concern that AI-powered platforms could exploit voters’ personal preferences and vulnerabilities to push targeted political messages, manipulate public opinion and discourage some groups from participating in elections.
To address the threats, Amupitan disclosed that INEC had established a specialised AI unit within its Information and Communication Technology Directorate to monitor digital threats, detect deepfakes and track attempts to manipulate election-related information.
He said the commission was also developing a digital strategy to monitor the information environment and working with technology platforms to speed up the debunking of false claims and identification of AI-generated electoral content.
The INEC boss stressed that the commission would not surrender critical electoral responsibilities to autonomous systems.
He specifically ruled out fully automating or delegating voter accreditation, result collation and candidate qualification to AI systems, insisting that human accountability, statutory oversight and judicial review would remain central to the process.
“No critical electoral decision, result collation, voter accreditation, or candidate qualification will ever be fully automated or delegated to an autonomous system,” he said.
Amupitan further urged political parties and candidates to commit to the ethical use of AI, warning against deepfakes, deceptive political advertisements, synthetic impersonation and automated accounts designed to mislead voters or discredit opponents.
He called on technology companies to strengthen safeguards against fabricated electoral content and improve transparency in political advertising, particularly where algorithmic targeting could exploit sensitive characteristics such as ethnicity and religion.
Media organisations were also urged to strengthen fact-checking and digital verification, while ensuring that the race to publish information did not override accuracy.
The chairman said INEC would collaborate with the National Orientation Agency, civil society organisations and media partners to incorporate AI media literacy into voter education programmes.
He encouraged Nigerians to verify sensational online claims before sharing them, warning that unverified information could spread rapidly and undermine confidence in the electoral process.
Amupitan said the 2027 general elections would involve more than 103 million registered voters across 176,846 polling units in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He disclosed that INEC had completed 10 of the 14 major operational milestones for the elections, while continuing to modernise its systems and strengthen preparations.
According to him, AI and other technological tools could improve election administration through better logistics planning, biometric database management, anomaly detection and cybersecurity, provided their deployment remained transparent and subject to human oversight.
He reiterated that technology should strengthen electoral integrity rather than undermine the will of Nigerians.
“The 2027 vote will be decided, as it must always be, by the sovereign people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
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