Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has warned that rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technologies pose serious risks to truth and democracy, citing the growing threat of doctored videos and manipulated content.
Speaking at the 11th Biennial Conference of the Commonwealth Hansard Editors Association- Africa Region (CHEA-AR) in Accra on August 11, 2025, Speaker Bagbin said the misuse of technology could “destroy what the Creator put in place” despite its potential to advance society.
“As I speak today, somebody can take my picture as I stand before you, change these things I am communicating to you, and use a different language, and how my mouth is opening and closing, they marry it in such a way that anybody listening will say this is what the speaker said at this conference. It’s a very serious threat,” he said.
Bagbin stressed that Hansard departments, which record, transcribe and preserve official parliamentary proceedings, play a crucial role in safeguarding truth and democracy and urged editors to “go beyond the normal” in their reporting to counter the rising tide of fake news, disinformation, and misinformation.
“Fake news, or disinformation or misinformation, is so great with what is happening. Not just AI, but (you know) all the software that has been developed by great minds just for the advancement of society, but also leading to the destruction of what the Creator put in place.
“And so as you go through your conference, I want to urge you to take time and go beyond the normal, because the official reports, and you seated here, really constitute Parliament, without you there is no parliament,” he said.
RelatedNews
While encouraging parliaments to embrace innovation, he warned against overreliance on machines and algorithms at the expense of human expertise.
“So please, while we embrace machines and algorithms, we must never forget the human expertise behind a human touch and professional development,” he said.
The speaker further appealed to African governments and parliaments to invest in Hansard departments, provide them with “resources, recognition and respect” to ensure their continued relevance in the digital age.
The CHEA-AR conference, themed “Charting the future of Hansard: Embracing innovation and technology for enhanced parliamentary reporting in Africa,” brought together parliamentary reporters from Commonwealth African countries to discuss how to adapt to emerging technologies while protecting the integrity of official records.
By Nusrat Essah
