Communication and marketing experts have warned that Nigerian companies face severe risks of reputational damage and financial loss unless they urgently strengthen their defenses against deepfakes and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven misinformation. The caution was issued during a virtual webinar titled “Safeguarding Brand Reputation in Nigeria’s AI Era: Preparing Organisations for Deepfakes, Synthetic Media and AI-Driven Misinformation,” organized by MSc Media and Communication students at Pan-Atlantic University (PAU).
The event, which attracted 107 participants including public relations practitioners, marketers, and academics, followed a recent alert by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON). ARCON flagged a fraudulent AI-generated Facebook advertisement that allegedly used the likenesses of President Bola Tinubu, Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele, and industrialist Aliko Dangote to promote a fake investment scheme. Speakers noted that this incident illustrated how easily synthetic content could exploit the identities of prominent figures to mislead the public, with a single fabricated video potentially triggering a crisis within minutes.
Keynote speaker Adenike Aloba, a Data and Tech Innovation Specialist, argued that while AI has altered the conditions for reputation management, the fundamental principles remain unchanged. She identified three critical areas for corporate attention: external threats from malicious actors, internal risks from AI adoption, and the need to maintain human judgment alongside strategic AI deployment. Aloba cautioned against impulsive reactions to manipulated content, stating, “Speed does not mean panic,” and urged organizations to verify the reach and credibility of misinformation before responding.
“You cannot outsource your brand strategy to AI,” Aloba said, emphasizing that communication professionals must be involved in AI adoption decisions at the conception stage rather than only after reputational damage has occurred.
Dr. Oludare Ogunyombo, a faculty member at Olabisi Onabanjo University and Chairman of the Training and Professional Development Committee of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), raised concerns about the reliability of current AI detection systems. He cited an instance where an academic paper received a five per cent plagiarism score on one institutional system but was classified as 90 per cent AI-generated by another tool. Ogunyombo warned that these conflicting results highlight the limitations of automated systems and the dangers of relying exclusively on them to determine content authenticity.
Samuel Adeyemi, General Secretary of the NIPR Lagos Chapter, described AI-generated content as “the new normal” but expressed concern that many professionals are inadequately prepared for its challenges. He challenged practitioners to “take our seats where decisions are being taken” rather than complaining about exclusion from management discussions. Similarly, Anietie Udoh of Marketing Edge warned against treating AI as a substitute for human creativity, stressing that the technology’s value depends on responsible deployment.
To illustrate the need for coordinated crisis responses, panellists participated in a live simulation called “The Deepfake Drill,” which involved a hypothetical crisis at a fictional institution, Harmattan Bank. In the scenario, a manipulated video falsely portrayed the bank’s Managing Director as announcing a N20,000 daily withdrawal limit, attracting 1,200 reposts. Ilabeshi Gabriel, Group Head of Marketing and Communications at CapitalSage Holdings, provided a model for internal governance, disclosing that his company established a dedicated AI committee and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) requiring legal and information security teams to vet AI tools before operational use.
<small>Source: The Sun Nigeria — read the original story there.</small>
