Experts urged FG to adopt stakeholders’ approach in tackling misuse of AI in Nigeria
A multi-stakeholder approach is said to be required in Nigeria in curbing the manifesting evidence of the increasing misuse of social media and AI technology in the country, experts have suggested.
In doing this, the Federal Government is urged to deploy the approach in driving public awareness on the danger of misuse of the digital devices through an active digital literacy campaign to ensure effective long-term defence of national interest, as well as the rights of the citizens.
The suggestions are the major takeaway from the ongoing 6th Kano Social Influencers Summit organised by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), which concluded weekend in the commercial city of Kano.
The experts suggested a thought-provoking presentation entitled ‘Disinformation, Deepfake, and AI: Their Implications for Media and Public, delivered by Bala Mohammed, a professor in the Faculty of Communication, Bayero University, Kano (BUK), at the summit.
Bala, a professor of mass communication, in the presentation provided the intersection of disinformation, deepfakes, and AI, noting that wrongful deployment of AI has been identified as one of the greatest communication challenges confronting most African countries, including Nigeria, inclusive, in the 21st century.
He hinted that while AI holds immense promise for improving journalism and public communication, noting that its misuse threatens truth, democracy, and social stability, which requires a balanced approach is required.
The scholar stated that balancing the deployment of AI entails leveraging innovation that will ensure that is used ethically, and in promoting media literacy, believed to be a key to preserving public trust, and protecting the integrity of the shared information ecosystem.
“The emerging information disorder manifesting in Nigeria is threatening peace, social cohesion, and orderly development of the country, and unfortunately, some citizens are deliberately encouraging the consumption of harmful information being pushed to them via social media and AI technology.
The proponents of the prevailing information disorder in the country, amplifying their actions, spreading, and sharing harmful, manipulated AI-generated content that is, in most cases, incorrect, inaccurate, and in some cases, an outright misrepresentation of truth.
“It is also disheartening that sharing and liking of these harmful contents are done by persons considered to be educated, a development is borne out of the rising culture of media illiteracy in the country, which is upscaling a growing culture of negative narratives that is threatening the peace and stability.
“While I will not suggest an outright regulation of social media and AI space. I am, however, canvassing some measure of ethical and moral interventions, as well as limited regulatory measures that will guide the deployment of technological tools in the country.
“I will also suggest that policy, legal, and legislative frameworks be put in place that will ensure that the technology are deployed responsibly, thereby curbing the recklessness associated with it deployment at the moment, in Nigeria”, he submitted in the presentation.
To address the identified challenges, Bala also suggested that a collective, multi-stakeholder approach is required to drive public awareness and digital literacy to ensure effective long-term defences.
He added that, in addition Government needs to scale up citizens’ education to critically assess and verify information sources, as well as media organisations need to adopt AI-based detection tools to identify synthetic content before publication.
Bala advised that a clear ethical and legal frameworks are urgently required to address AI misuse while protecting free speech, while collaboration between tech companies, journalists, and fact-checkers is said to be very essential for rapid response to disinformation campaigns that are being propagated in the country.
