Ahead of the 2023 general elections, Tech giant, Google, in partnership with Full Fact, a UK-based Charity has announced an initiative to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) to fight against misinformation during the election.
In the same bid, Google has announced a grant of two million dollars for Nigeria Fact Checkers towards the forthcoming general elections.
Dawn Dimowo, Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager, Google Nigeria, made this known in a statement on Wednesday in Lagos.
According to her, Google would continue to use its resources and technology to make a positive impact on society.
She said, “This builds on our ongoing efforts to support local fact-checking initiatives as Google is proud to support this important project and make a positive difference in the world.
“Collaborating with International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) members Africa Check, Dubawa, and FactCheckHub, Full Fact will expand the use of its AI tools to stop the spread of misinformation during the election.
“The project made possible by a $2 million grant from Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, has already seen remarkable results.
‘’With the support of seven dedicated technical Google.org Fellows who worked on a pro bono basis, Full Fact’s AI technology has seen a 1,000x increase in claim detection.
“That is identifying which claims are most important to fact-check and help scale their fact-checks to appear in 237 million search results in 2020,’’ she said.
According to her, the technology developed by Full Fact in 2015, will be used in the Nigerian election for the first time.
Dimowo said that the technology would offer instant transcription services and real-time fact-checking during debates, speeches, and throughout the election process to increase the speed and accuracy of information dissemination.
She said that Full Fact would also provide training and support to its local fact-checking partners during the election process.
Commenting on the initiative, Will Moy, the Chief Executive Officer of Full Fact, said that every vote should be an informed vote.
“We have seen firsthand how bad information spreads during an election and it should not be allowed to undermine democracy,” Moy said.
According to Moy, our AI tools, with support from Google, help fact-checkers stay ahead of false claims and promote accurate information. We’re proud to support our partners in Nigeria during this important time.
Opeyemi Kehinde, Editor, FactCheckHub, said that using the Full Fact AI tool, built in collaboration with Africa Check, had enhanced the work ahead of the general election.
Kehinde said that since being onboarded, our team of fact-checkers and researchers at the Nigerian Fact-checkers Coalition (NFC) have been utilising the AI platform to source claims for debunking easily.
He said that the platform also comes in handy for our live checks of political town halls and debates for candidates, especially its live transcription feature, which we hope to utilise in the days before the election.