Speaker Alban Bagbin has issued a stark warning to African parliamentary reporters: AI-generated deepfakes and fake news now pose existential risks to legislative integrity.
Addressing the Commonwealth Hansard Editors’ conference in Accra, Bagbin revealed how easily technology can fabricate speeches—even manipulating his own mouth movements to create false narratives.
“Someone can alter my words and make me speak a different language,” he cautioned, urging immediate investment in official record-keeping units.
The four-day gathering brought Hansard editors from across Africa to confront digital-era challenges.
Bagbin stressed that parliamentary language—distinct from everyday speech—requires specialized protection against distortion. He linked weak democracies to vulnerable institutions, declaring: “Whatever we do fails without accurate records.”
His call comes as Ghana’s Parliament faces heightened scrutiny. Recent by-election disputes and national tragedies have amplified concerns about misinformation.
The Hansard, a verbatim debate transcript, remains parliament’s factual backbone but staff urgently need tech-upgraded skills to detect synthetic media.
Can Africa’s democracies outpace disinformation? Bagbin’s solution: equip Hansard teams with AI literacy while preserving human verification. “Our credibility hangs in the balance,” he concluded.
