PHILOSOPHIA POLITICA

In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), governance and other phenomenal activities are being optimized using AI techniques. AI raises critical questions about human wellbeing. There are peculiar ethical concerns that have emerged with the advent of AI. This study makes a case for ethical governance of AI to attain its ethical use for governance purposes and improved human wellbeing in the 21st century Nigeria. It argues that the ethical issues of manipulative use of AI for electoral, campaign and administrative purposes, privacy invasion, deep fake, misinformation, cyber security threats, opacity and unjustified actions of AI, job loss, bias, and the politics of AI governance can be addressed significantly through enshrining operational ethical governance and effective financing of AI for governance purposes in ways that do not tamper with but rather improve human wellbeing. The study makes clarifications between ‘ethical governance of AI’ and ‘AI governance’, critiquing the erroneous use of the latter to imply the former. It submits that while ethical governance allows for effective financing of AI and upholds human wellbeing in the era of AI, AI governance alongside unethical adoption and use creates room for ineffective and unjustified financing of AI and the negligence of human wellbeing. It charges the Nigerian government to be prudent, human-centered, and ethical in its adoption and financing of AI for governance purposes

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