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There’s been no shortage of news about how AI language models can influence people’s behaviour, spread misinformation and sow confusion about what’s real and what isn’t. But it can be difficult to picture what those dangers might look like in the real world.

Political scientist Archon Fung and legal scholar Lawrence Lessig paint a chilling scenario of a plausible AI system in the hands of a presidential candidate’s campaign. They describe how the hypothetical campaign messaging machine would be able to target millions of people individually and adjust its approach to each person over the course of the campaign, all with the singular goal of changing your voting behavior – including even convincing you not to vote at all.

Nigeria’s biggest security threat used to be Boko Haram, whose activities were mostly limited to the northern region of the country. Although the previous administration, under Muhammadu Buhari, claimed to have significantly weakened the insurgent group, security in Nigeria has actually deteriorated. Boko Haram continues to operate in the north and other terror groups as well as bandits have joined the fray. Now, every region of Nigeria is affected by growing insecurity. This is what president Bola Ahmed Tinubu has inherited from his predecessor. But Sallek Yaks Musa thinks all is not lost. He argues that the new president needs to address socio-economic factors that contribute to insecurity.