Two civil advocacy groups, Dataphyte and the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG, have urged the Nigerian media industry and citizens to adopt the positive use of Artificial Intelligence, AI, in demanding good governance and accountability from leaders.
The groups made the demand during an anti-corruption radio program, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, produced by PRIMORG, on Wednesday in Abuja.
Dataphyte developed Nubia, an open-source AI tool that draws insight from data provided and turns it into readable and relatable stories.
Dataphyte and PRIMORG are partnering to broaden the use of AI in the media ecosystem and to ensure citizens take advantage of the information provided to demand accountability for public officeholders.
Dataphyte’s Programme Director, Femi D Amele, underscoring the importance of AI in Nigeria’s media industry, stated that the technology has not only brought efficiency in the job journalists’ do but also helped citizens fact-check public spending and fight corruption.
Amele noted that the acceptance of AI technology by people is on the rise while identifying ethical issues as one of the main concerns of AI innovation.
He said the Federal Government had shown interest in the development of AI in the country, especially on its socio-economic impact, but remains worried about opportunities for young people in AI and adherence to ethics.
Asked how important AI is in fighting corruption in Nigeria, Amele said: “It’s very important. Beneficial ownership helps us trace details of cases in fighting corruption. AI helps us get details of corruption.
“Quite a lot of ground has been covered by AI for over a decade now has several experiences in different sectors but the media in particular, the mainstream media.
“I’m excited that there’s some level of government and media involvement but it is also very compulsory that the media gets into this next level of intelligence because citizens are pushing. They are finding out news on their own, and we, as the gatekeepers, need to be sure to be able to provide that extra intelligence on what citizens discuss and give them things that they can discuss intelligently and to advocate for socioeconomic changes.
“One of the things we are doing at Dataphyte is with our product called Nubia, it’s able to analyze data, but one of the things that we want to conveniently have to analyze from time to time as Nigerians are details such as the budget. So, every year the budget is released, it takes journalists one day or two to source for budget details. Still, with software such as Nubia, all you have to do is to upload that document in whatever format it may come and then internalize it, and it will give you a lot of details”.
Amele, expressing concern over ethics issues, said, “A lot of people in the AI space are working hard to come up with the AI ethics that will help to govern conversation.” Adding that Dataphyte has stayed in the forefront of doing trainings on the use of AI in media houses.”
On his part, PRIMORG’s Media & Communications Officer, Chiidozie Ogbonnaya, expressed the organization’s commitment to ensuring more journalists and media houses deploy AI tools most responsibly by informing the public adequately and holding leaders to account.
Ogbonnaya revealed that the goal of PRIMORG’s partnership with Dataphyte on deepening the responsible use of AI in the Nigerian media industry is aimed at scaling up information for citizens and improving their participation in governance and public accountability.
“PRIMORG is seriously committed to ensuring that AI knowledge goes around as media is the conscience of the society and the 4th estate of the realm, so the public relies on us (the media) to do much. If AI is going to help the media to hold the government accountable, then we are in, and that is why we are collaborating with Dataphyte.
“PRIMORG wants the Nigerian media ecosystem and citizens to positively use the AI tools to advance participation in governance and hold their leaders to account. That’s why we are in partnership with Dataphyte,” Ogbonnaya noted.
The Head of News at 99.9 Kiss FM, Ayoade Olatokewa, said AI is transforming journalism in Nigeria while dispelling the fears of possible job losses as a result of the technology.
Olatokewa cautioned that AI is making some users and journalists lazy while making a strong case against the total use of information from AI by journalists without human editing and double-checking on the information provided.
“For reporters in the newsroom, AI has gotten some reporters too lazy to do research. The challenge is the need to know and master how it works, and some of those things AI brings out are not in reality with our reality.
“We need to know the gap in AI for us here in Nigeria. In as much as AI is making the work easier, we have to redefine it for upcoming journalists. We have to make them know that AI is information given by some people, and we have to verify to be sure that what they are churning out is human-edited,” She said.
Similarly, research and data at Dataphyte Khadijat Kareem, despite acknowledging the importance of the AI media industry, warned journalists and other users against relying entirely on data from AI without further checks.
Kareem stressed the most significant concern of using AI as a data journalist is plagiarism, urging that users seeking AI for sources of information have a reference point.
Her words: “In Nigeria, the data access is limited, so sometimes you have to get on the field to get your data yourself. The use of AI has the good side and the bad side. You can use AI to your advantage, but you have to humanize it. Relying on AI entirely makes your story bland. People won’t be able to relate to your story.
“My greatest concern with AI, especially in the media, would be plagiarism. What AI is giving you is coming from somewhere, so you have to be very careful about using whatever you get from AI directly.
“It’s important to sit with AI and look at it from other angles. Most times, the best way to use AI is to ask it for sources so that you can have a reference point of the information supplied by the AI,” Kareem advised.
Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio program PRIMORG uses to draw government and citizens’ attention to corruption and integrity issues in Nigeria.
The program has the support of the MacArthur Foundation.