AI Generated Crisis Management in the Digital Era

The use of Artificial Intelligence has brought a lot of innovation in the technology space, making information sourcing much easier and timely. Conversely, AI can be used to generate misinformation, disinformation, deformation and character defamation in today’s digital age, a development that calls for proactive crisis management, writes Emma Okonji   

Acquiring Artificial Intelligence (AI) skills has its good, its bad and its ugly sides in today’s digital age. When responsibly used, AI can boost innovation in the technology space, and it can be used to develop credible solutions, build trust, enhance business agility and reduce the time of completing a given task. But if maliciously used, it can generate management crisis for organisations, especially when used for character defamation through the cloning of human voices and images to perpetrate evil.

In todays’ digital era, there are rising cases of character defamation through the manipulative use of AI skills, leading to court cases, fines and imprisonment. In several cases, it has brought about huge embarrassment to organisations, whose staff members are involved in the manipulative use of AI technology.

To nip it in the bud, CMC Connect, a perception consulting firm, recently held its Crisis Management Advocacy Month Flagship Conference, themed: ‘Crisis Management in the AI Milieu: New Threats, Smarter Responses’, where experts proffered solutions that would address AI generated crisis management in today’s digital era.

As a further solution to AI generated crisis management, CMC Connect has developed a crisis management platform called Crisis-X, designed to protect organisational reputation before it is damaged, to preserve trust before it is broken, and to stop misinformation and disinformation before they spread.

AI Misuse

Addressing the manipulative us of AI technology, which has led to misinformation, disinformation and character defamation, the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, (ARCON), Olalekan Fadolapo, who represented the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi, at the AI crisis management conference, raised concerns about the growing misuse of Artificial Intelligence by unregulated content creators to spread misinformation and amplify negative narratives. He therefore urged stakeholders to deploy AI more responsibly in support of national development.

Delivering the keynote address, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, highlighted the growing importance of data, technology, and coordinated systems in managing modern crises.

He stressed the need for a forward-looking approach, stating that while crises are inevitable, responses can be shaped through preparedness. “With the right data and systems, organisations can move from reacting to crises to anticipating risks and managing them in real time,” Tijani said.

According to him, AI can escalate crisis, but organisations must be ready and prepared in managing such crisis because AI has come to stay with us, adding that organisations must leverage the use of data and digital technology in managing crisis.

“It’s important that people understand that what separates organisations, entities, and individuals that are able to do well with crisis is simply preparedness. Organisations must be prepared to deal with any AI generated crisis, and turn it into opportunity for economic development.

“Crisis don’t have to be a disaster. Our ability to prepare is what helps us to be able to see how we deal with crisis. The role of information and institutions in managing crisis is key because information shapes behaviour. The way that crisis is communicated is important because information will shape how people behave and react to crisis. So it is important that organisations see crisis as opportunity for renewal and economic development,” Tijani further said, adding that technology doesn’t prevent crisis, but it dramatically improves the ability to manage it as well.  

AI Challenges

Chairman, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Dr. Segun Ogunsanya, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Crisis Management Advocacy Month Flagship Conference, spoke about the challenges of AI.

According to him, the advent of computer and AI ushered in lots of opportunities, but sadly some people have tuned the opportunities into something negative and disturbing.

“AI presents opportunities for its users, but the issue is about how to manage such opportunities and how to manage AI generated crisis in the age of Artificial Intelligence. AI is not only a design frontier, it is also shaping economies, influencing societies, and redefining the boundaries of human capabilities. But with this power comes vulnerability. The very systems designed to enhance our resilience can also expose us to new forms of risk. A crisis is always an accident waiting to happen. AI has the good side and the bad side, but we must choose the good side in order to use AI responsibly,” Ogunsanya said.

According to him, “Today, we face crises both from certain groups, data and digital ecosystems. Consider misinformation campaigns amplified by AI, cyberattacks powered by machine learning, data leaks by AI scripts, or ethical dilemmas in autonomous decision-making. These are not hypothetical, making the show nearly theoretical. They are realities unfolding around us. In the ongoing Israel-Iran war, I’ve seen plenty of AI news videos spreading misinformation. The AI environment introduces threats that are faster, some of which are 20 to 30 hours a week or or two. They are more complex. They are often invisible. We don’t know what to care about.”

He however said in all of these threats, organisations would need all the tools that empower technology, warning that a single threat model can cascade into financial instability. He said unregulated deployment could compromise national security. He stressed the need for crisis management imperative by moving beyond reactive firefighting to proactive resilience. He said organisations must imbibe ethics, transparency, and accountability to repair the architecture of the AI system.

Crisis Management

Stressing the urgent need for Artificial Intelligence-driven strategies and more coordinated systems to address today’s rapidly evolving crisis generated by the manipulative use of AI, Lead Partner at CMC Connect, Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, called for a fundamental repositioning of crisis management within organisational leadership. He noted that crisis management must move from the background to the centre of leadership, stressing the importance of anticipation, preparation, and decisive leadership in navigating crises. He described the conference as part of a broader movement aimed at redefining preparedness in an increasingly volatile environment. “In the age of AI, a stitch in time doesn’t just save nine, it preserves reputation, leadership, and the trust that underpins both.

“False information spreads six times faster than the truth. And nearly 70 per cent of leaders are not prepared. These are not just statistics, they are more than that. The real crisis is not just technology, it is the gap between how fast threats are evolving and how slow they are being addressed. The industry and government officials are still too slow in handling crisis management. We are reactive and we are still too hesitant. But the truth is that no one can outpace an algorithm with hesitation,” Badejo-Okusanya said. According to him, trust is vital, trust is necessary in crises, and trust is earned through moments of clarity, moments of courage, and moments when we learn to act. The speed of crisis using AI skills will increase, and the pressure will intensify, as people will continue to turn peoples’ voices on their own images.

Crisis-X

A key highlight of the management crisis conference was the unveiling of the CMC Connect Crisis-X Intelligence Engine, an AI-powered platform designed to enhance how organisations detect, analyse, and respond to crises. The solution integrates real-time monitoring, sentiment analysis, strategic response planning, and recovery mechanisms. It also incorporates emotional intelligence capabilities to help organisations better interpret and respond to public sentiment during critical situations.

Presenting the Crisis-X Intelligence Engine, Badejo-Okusanya described the platform as “built for speed, intelligence, and the demands of the current moment.”

The platform, which is a public verification portal, was introduced to help combat misinformation by enabling organisations to validate and disseminate accurate information in real time, thereby safeguarding credibility and strengthening public trust.

Discussions at the conference reflected a shared concern about the speed and complexity of modern crises, particularly in an era shaped by digital platforms and artificial intelligence, which Crisis-X seeks to address.

AI Era Data Breaches

A panel session made up of technocrats, discussed the implications of data breaches in the era of AI.

According to them, the world is experiencing a new era, which is the AI era, where the engineering of trust is a necessity. They explained that only the brands who are able to engineer trust would survive during AI generated crisis management.  .  

According to the panelists, crisis in the AI age moves at a digital speed, and organisations must be proactive to address crisis amicably. They also called for an end-to-end communications plan, roadmap, strategy, while urging organisations to ensure that they meet all levels of approval in an AI generated crisis management.

The panelists also talked about ethics and human intervention in managing AI generated crisis. According to them, human intervention is a key governance tool in managing crisis in AI era. They however said AI ethics were constantly being ignored in AI governance, which poses the question of who takes responsibility for ethical decisions, since it is not something AI will do, adding that AI governance will still have to remain with human beings in the digital AI era.

They called for more training of people and upskilling of staff, to enable organisatons respond to those threats very quickly, while also considering ethical conversations. “Being mindful that in Africa and Nigeria in particular, the amount of data that AI is using to synthesize can be at the scale of what other developed countries are doing, organisations must therefore be mindful of those biases when making those decisions and leveraging those technologies.” One of the panelists said.

Government Initiatives

Speaking about government initiative in curbing AI generated crisis, the NSIA boss said nations would need policing, auditing of public information and recommended that punishment should be spelt out for those that use AI negatively.

“What are the smarter responses? They involve cooperation among many disciplines. The priorities, policies, and customs crisis management must be embedded in the chain, and not go out of power after the event. We must have actual governance frameworks and policies that evolve fast. Such policies and the governance structure must be very dynamic, and must change as the decade is evolving. It’s like using AI to police AI,” Ogunsanya said.
Other experts that spoke at the conference stressed the need for a credible solution and a credible platform that could address the challenges of AI generated crisis.  They said such solution may not solve all the challenges, but the solution must work.

Speakers noted that misinformation now spreads faster than institutional responses, placing credibility and trust at the centre of effective crisis management.

The conference called for the need to reinforce the urgency for organisations to adopt faster, more coordinated, and intelligence-driven responses.

Participants at the conference collectively underscored the importance of embedding preparedness as a strategic priority. There was a shared commitment to leveraging innovation, collaboration, and responsible use of technology to navigate an increasingly complex risk environment.

The crisis management advocacy month flagship conference ultimately reinforced a central message, saying that while crises are inevitable, organisations that invest in anticipation, intelligence, and coordinated response, will be better positioned to protect trust and emerge stronger.