The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has urged West African electoral bodies to adopt responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in elections while strengthening cybersecurity systems.
Amupitan made the call on Tuesday in Abuja when he received a delegation of the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC) led by Mr. Serigne Ka, Head of the ECOWAS Electoral Assistance Division.
The visit followed the validation and adoption of ECONEC guidelines on the use of AI in electoral processes across the West African region.
The INEC Chairman said electoral bodies could no longer ignore AI because the technology had become part of everyday systems.
“Even if you don’t want to use it, every system you have, even your phone, already has AI in it,” Amupitan said.
He said the use of AI must be supported with strong cybersecurity measures to prevent abuse and protect public trust in elections.
“When we say we want to use AI, it means that you want to have features or cyber skills that will prevent your own phone system from being used against you,” he said.
Amupitan identified voter registration, public information services and faster responses to citizens’ enquiries as areas where AI could improve electoral processes.
He also called for stronger cooperation among electoral commissions in areas such as electronic transmission of results, training, logistics and election planning.
ECONEC official Serigne Ka said the guidelines had been adopted after experts developed the framework to guide the use of AI in elections, adding that “AI is here to stay anyway. There’s no way we can do away with AI anymore.”