Microsoft plans AI safeguards ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 elections

Microsoft plans to restrict its generative AI tools from producing unauthorized, unrealistic images of candidates ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general election, a company official said at the Artificial Intelligence and Democracy Forum in Abuja.

Dave Liechtman, Microsoft’s senior director of global elections, said the company would add the Independent National Electoral Commission’s final candidate list to its systems as part of the effort. He said Microsoft and other technology companies had committed under a 2024 accord to combating deceptive AI-generated content involving candidates and election officials.

At the same forum, INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan said algorithms would not determine the election’s outcome, stressing that voters alone would choose Nigeria’s leaders. He acknowledged, however, that artificial intelligence could affect the information voters receive, election logistics, cybersecurity and attempts to disrupt the process.

Amupitan said AI could also support route planning, election-result audits, biometric database management and multilingual voter engagement. According to The Punch, he said INEC had completed 10 of 14 major operational milestones under the Electoral Act 2026, acquired additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices and processed more than 15,000 candidate nominations from 22 political parties.

INEC is preparing to conduct presidential, legislative, governorship and state assembly elections for more than 103 million registered voters across 176,846 polling units, Amupitan said.