Mozambique to introduce artificial intelligence in elections – “to promote information integrity” | report

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Mozambique to introduce artificial intelligence in elections – “to promote information integrity” | report

2:45 CAT | 15 Aug 2023

For illustration purposes only. [image: Pixabay / Wikimedia Commons]

The country’s electoral bodies are working on the implementation of a digital platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to promote the integrity of information and combat disinformation during the electoral processes, especially in the upcoming municipal elections on 11 October, AIM in Portuguese reported on Monday (14 August).

The development was shared in Maputo this Monday (14-08) by the spokeswoman for the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE), Regina Matsinhe, during a press briefing on the current status of preparedness for the VI Municipality Elections.

“We are involved in the implementation of the new and innovative digital platform on artificial intelligence to promote information integrity,” Matsinhe said.

The platform in question was developed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for use by member countries, and has already been used in elections in Lebanon, Tunisia, Libya and Peru.

Mozambique will be the first country in Southern Africa, as well as among Portuguese-speaking countries, to use the platform.

Meanwhile, and according to the UNDP website,” eMonitor+ is a platform that helps scan online media posts to identify, electoral violations, misinformation, hate speech, political polarization and pluralism, and online violence against women. Such data analysis enables election commissions and media stakeholders to observe the prevalence, nature and impact of online violence. This platform (…) relies on machine learning to track and analyse the content on digital media to generate graphical representations for data visualization”.

READ: Mozambique Elections: UNDP trains media monitors to combat disinformation and hate speech

STAE currently has around 4.5 billion meticais (about US$70 million) to cover all the logistics of the electoral process up to polling day.

The amount will serve to cover the entire process, from preparation, training, acquisition of materials that will be available at all polling stations, transport for the allocation and collection of brigade members, work equipment, among other logistical and management activities to Human Resources.

To cover all expenses inherent to the 2023 municipal elections and the 2024 general elections, 18.7 billion meticais (US$292 million) are needed – 6.7 billion for 2023 and 8.7 billion for 2024-2025.

Source: AIM