‘AI in Nigeria Must Be Regulated, to Check Excessive Use –ARCON

• AI Cannot Replace Human Creativity in Advertising, Says ARCON

The need to regulate the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Nigeria has been advanced by the Director-General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Dr Olalekan Fadolapo This, he said, will check excessive use and infringement on the rights of others.

He said that even as artificial intelligence (AI) will transform Nigeria’s advertising industry not completely replace creative agencies and human creativity that drives them, but use if it must be checked.

Fadolapo stated this at the 2026 edition of the Annual Brands and Marketing Conference organsied Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN) in Lagos, with the theme: “Advertising in Nigeria and AI: Who Needs Creative Agencies Anyways?”

According to him, the advertising industry has undergone several major transformations over the years, yet creative agencies have continued to adapt and remain relevant.

He said the emergence of AI should, therefore, be viewed as another phase of transformation rather than the destruction of the creative agency business.

“AI is not a challenge alone. It is how we are able to manage it,” he stated, stressing that the industry must learn to embrace the technology while preserving the human elements that make advertising effective and relatable.

Fadolapo said that although AI could generate campaign ideas, images, voices, and other creative assets within seconds, there are aspects of creativity that technology would not completely be able to replicate.

He identified human insight, creativity, and originality as critical elements that would continue to distinguish professional advertising from machine-generated content.

The ARCON boss, however, warned that the growing use of AI-generated images and voices was creating new regulatory and ethical concerns that could not be ignored.

He asked who should be held responsible when a person’s image or voice is manipulated and used in an advertisement without the individual’s knowledge or consent.

According to him, the situation becomes more complicated when such content is published on digital or other media platforms, potentially creating the impression that the person is endorsing the product, service, or message.

He therefore called for a robust regulatory framework to guide the deployment of AI in advertising and prevent the technology from operating without adequate safeguards.

“You can’t put AI on a free move,” he said, insisting that responsible regulation must accompany technological innovation.