By: Nana
Appiah Acquaye
Yiaga Africa and the ECOWAS
Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC-RESAO) have jointly hosted a
validation workshop for the ECOWAS Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence (AI)
in Election Administration, as efforts intensify to safeguard Nigeria’s 2027 general
elections in the age of AI.
The workshop was followed by
three days of activities at the AI for Democracy Forum, which focused on
exploring practical solutions for protecting electoral integrity through AI.
Samson Itodo, Executive
Director of Yiaga Africa, said the week’s activities moved beyond conversations
to examine practical approaches to addressing the challenges and opportunities
presented by AI in elections.
The forum featured five
plenary sessions, seven practical masterclasses, a town hall with technology
companies including Microsoft and Google, high-level cybersecurity workshops
for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) national commissioners,
and innovations presented at the AI in Elections Sandbox.
ElectionGPT, developed by
Powervox, won the ₦13 million grand prize at the AI in Elections Sandbox.
Itodo congratulated the team
behind the winning innovation, describing it as an example of homegrown
technology that should be nurtured and supported.
“This is precisely the kind
of homegrown innovation we must nurture and support,” he said.
He also commended the Yiaga
Africa team and its partners, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and
Development and Dataphyte Foundation, for their dedication, creativity and hard
work in making the convening a success.
Itodo expressed appreciation
to ECOWAS, Luminate, Microsoft, Google, TikTok, GIZ Nigeria and ECOWAS, the
International Foundation for Electoral Systems, UK in Nigeria, other partners
and supporters, as well as distinguished speakers, moderators and more than 350
participants who contributed their expertise and ideas to the discussions.
He also acknowledged the
support of Dave Leichtman, Lisa Poggiali, Julia Brothers and Norbert A. in the
organisation of the activities.
