How To Harness Gains Of AI For Devt, By Olaopa

The Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has proposed measures that governments could deploy in order to harness the gains of Artificial Intelligence ( AI) for development.

Olaopa spoke on Thursday in Abuja on “Media And Information Literacy, AI And Youth Creativity” during a stakeholders’ dinner organised by the International Media and Information Literacy Institute (IMILI) in partnership with UNESCO to mark the 2026 Global Media and Information Literacy (GMIL) Week

According to Olaopa, through a proper understanding of Media & Information Literacy (MIL), various competences are being developed for the proper deployment of AI tools . He referred to educational models that help in source
evaluation and fact-checking and AI literacy and integration that lead to responsible generative AI use that paves the way for empowered youth creativity, ethical content creation, and
innovative problem solving.

To Olaopa, when generative AI tools are integrated into literacy curricula, they hold the potential of considerably reducing the cognitive load for younger learners, making complex research and information synthesis more accessible.

According to him, MIL equips youth with the capacity to detect automated text or graphics, and to set strict boundaries, cross-examine outputs, and counter hidden AI biases.

“Thus, a mastery of the dual disciplines of MIL and AI rescues technology from the trap of being an automated shortcut. It rather becomes a path for multi-faceted development”, he said.

He said that to get the best of media, information literacy, AI and youth creativity, the educational system should be reworked to reflect learning models that align with contemporary technological reality.

He said that this should lead to reviewing policy frameworks to formally blend data literacy and AI ethics into mainstream school systems.

Stressing the need for institutional hubs like academic libraries and community media networks that should be empowered to ensure basic AI literacy for marginalized youth, he said this should lead to bridging the infrastructural gap. He decried a situation where while advantaged youth are familiar with even the advanced world of media and AI, there are disadvantaged youth without access to the basic knowledge of media and AI tools, let alone information literacy.

” Such youth need access to the Internet and AI tools in their local settings for their creativity to flourish”, he said.

But to Olaopa, while AI and modern media have opened possibilities in youth creativity, workplaces and democratised information that is essential for the protection of democracy as a counterweight to tyranny as demonstrated in the. Arab Spring and ENDSARS, there is the need to reckon with their bleak implications for humanity.

He said that the late scientist Stephen Hawking was so concerned about the impact of fast-paced technological development on humanity that in 2015, alongside more than 1,000 other experts and researchers, especially in robotics and artificial intelligence, wrote an open letter presented at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Argentina.

He said that it was borne out of a collective concern about the possibility of AI — and especially the dangers inherent in “a military artificial intelligence arms race” — being humanity’s “biggest existential threat” and the possibility of this translating into “the end of the human race.”

He said that Hawking wondered if the human race could survive the next 100 years. He said that the anxiety of Hawking was not misplaced amid a world in which machines are increasingly taking over almost every sphere of human life.

“Robotics and intelligent machines have taken over the workplace. They are even taking over the the role of a wife or husband. With their dominance at home, and thus replacing a human wife or husband, Hawking’s prediction might after all not be a ruse but a dark reality awaiting humanity”, he said.

Consequently, he stressed the necessity for MIL that would enable humanity to profitably navigate the technological reality of the modern world.

“Since human beings were responsible for the creation of AI as they were responsible for the creation of the atomic bomb and the Holocaust, it should not be taken for granted that they know how to tame AI. Rather, humanity should step forward and make a determined effort to stop AI from running amok. It is only through that we can enjoy the possibilities in media, information literacy, AI and youth creativity”, he added.