The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) journalists, civil society organisations (CSOs) and safety companies have acquired coaching on the usage of synthetic intelligence and safeguards in opposition to its potential threats to Nigeria’s 2027 common elections.
The coaching was organised as a part of efforts to arrange key establishments for the alternatives and dangers related to AI forward of the elections.
The govt director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, disclosed this in an interview with LEADERSHIP Friday on the sidelines of the two-day AI Democracy Forum in Abuja.
The discussion board, themed, “Will Algorithms Determine the 2027 Vote? Safeguarding Nigeria’s 2027 General Election in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” introduced collectively election consultants, safety companies, electoral officers, civil society organisations and different stakeholders.
It was organised by Yiaga Africa, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development and the Datahpyte Foundation.
Itodo mentioned the organisers launched specialised masterclasses after figuring out the necessity to equip establishments with the information required to maximise AI’s advantages whereas mitigating its risks.
“One of the things that we found in the build-up to the AI and Democracy Forum was that most institutions require capacity-building on how to maximise the opportunities of AI and then mitigate its risks,” he mentioned.
He defined that the coaching was tailor-made to the wants of various teams, together with electoral officers, journalists, civil society organisations and safety companies.
According to him, Yiaga Africa labored with Microsoft to develop an AI 101 for Election Officials session to assist INEC officers perceive how synthetic intelligence may very well be utilized to election administration.
Journalists have been educated in collaboration with Google on safeguards for reporting within the age of AI.
Civil society organisations and election observers additionally acquired coaching from the National Democratic Institute on monitoring the usage of generative AI throughout elections.
Security companies, he added, participated in a cybersecurity session.
Itodo mentioned the masterclasses have been designed to strengthen contributors’ capability to know and reply to the challenges posed by rising applied sciences.
“The masterclasses are really geared towards providing capacity development because, for the most part, the participants came to the ADF to learn,” he mentioned.
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