Nigeria has enough laws to prosecute anyone involved in broadcasting harmful AI content, says Yadudu, former Abacha`s minister of justice
Auwalu Yadudu, former Nigeria Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, says there are currently enough provisions in Nigerian law to prosecute people deliberately broadcasting, and those rebroadcasting AI-generated content that is harmful to individuals and Nigeria, at large.
Yadudu, who is a professor of Law at Bayero University, Kano (BUK), stated this while delivering a closing lecture entitled ‘Can AI have legal Personality: Challenges, Controversy, and Contemplations’, at the 6th Kano Social Influencers Summit, which concluded the weekend in Kano.
“My take in this is that rebroadcasting of harmful contents on social media has landed some people in serious trouble, which anyone involved in this should be prepared for, in law, the issue of right violations is very technical, but in Nigeria there are many provisions in the country for punishing anyone that participated in creating or rebroadcasting falsehood against anyone”, he stated
Yadudu said there is a difference between human personality, which has an existing date of birth, emotion that makes one identifiable, and conferred a legal personality on him, separate from personality, that is an artificial entity in nature made up of data and information.
According to him, human beings have physical existence and legal personality, but AI does not have the same physical and legal existence in the nature of humans. But, noted that AI products are owned by legal entities, which are responsible and accountable for any content or narratives traced to them.
The legal luminary argued that owners of AI products can be legally accountable for every content or narratives traceable to it, as the technology is a creation of program based on internet devices that some entities owned, noting that, however, the process for making the entities accountable could be difficult and complex.
“The biggest question that need to be answered is whether it is possible for AI technology companies’ owners, such as: Meta, Google, and others, that are based far away in USA, and European countries, to be held responsible legally in Nigeria, for any of misuse that the AI that they owned cause here, taking into the consideration the difference in the legal realities in the two countries.
“My submitting is that despite the difference in legal realities between the two countries, the entities owning AI products can be held legal responsible, but doing that can be a bit difficult, as it has tremendous cost implication, and because of the difficult process that it entails the best that anyone can do when he or she is a target of harmful AI deployment is to block, himself from having contact with the content.
“I want to cite the case of Former President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, who was a target of misrepresentation in an AI-generated content, and that the best the Nigerian government could that time was to ban Google’s operation in Nigeria.
“My position on this is that in the context of the above submission, the question is, does AI have legal personality that one can take legal action against in case of any violation of rights? My answer is affirmative. In the context of an argument, some entities owned the generated products.
“However, unfortunately, in Africa, doing that can be very difficult and expensive, because most countries on the continent do not have adequate legal and functional legal regimes for seeking redress.
“In the case of former President Buhari, the best that the government could do was to ban the Google, and when that was done, it wasn’t effective as people who require the service of the company, find ways of connecting, despite the ban”, he stated.
Yadudu noted that the danger of over-dependence on AI is that most dangerous of the disadvantages is that most of the citizens, particularly students in educational institutions, have stopped depending on their own intelligence and knowledge in solving contemporary and academic questions.
“Now people depend more on computer, and handset devices abled by AI technology in creating answer, which they thrown back at their teachers, and in most cases can’t be held accountable, in some other instances, there people who leverage the technology for misinform, misrepresent, and to create outright harmful contents about other people, which they broadcast, and many other people joined in rebroadcasting is generating confusion, and escalating conflicts in the country.
“While holding the creators of these harmful AI contents may be a bit difficult because of the inadequacy of the law and regulatory environment in Nigeria, they should be reminded that they can`t escape the judgment of the Supreme Being, as all the Religions prescribed responsibility on creators of the acts in the hereafter. The judgment of the Supreme Being will also fall on all the people who are involved in sharing, liking, and rebroadcasting harmful content either on social media or through AI.
“In call to action, urged the citizens to instead of misusing AI for negative purpose, they should be an active participant in its constructive deployment, especially, in areas that bring positive change in the society, while, suggesting a careful consumption of AI, by being responsible with it”, he cautioned.
