Nigeria risks missing AI economic gains without strong regulation, CarbonAI CEO warns

The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CarbonAI, Debola Ibiyode, has warned that Nigeria could undermine the economic potential of artificial intelligence if it fails to establish strong regulatory guardrails. Speaking at the AI Summit 2026 in Lagos, Ibiyode said while AI presents enormous opportunities for economic growth, its long-term success depends on building public trust through responsible regulation and what she described as “AI Diplomacy.”

Regulation is not an obstacle

Addressing the summit’s theme, “The AI Conversation: Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Nigeria: Balancing Regulation and Innovation,” Ibiyode argued that regulation should not be viewed as an obstacle to innovation but as an essential foundation for sustainable AI driven growth. She said innovation without appropriate safeguards creates risks that could ultimately discourage investment and reduce the profitability of AI solutions.

“Innovation without regulation is a risk, and regulation in itself without innovation is stagnation. We should apply AI for economic growth,” Ibiyode said. “However, at some point, without regulation, economic growth will not happen because there will not be profitability. If we do not apply AI responsibly, we cannot profit from it.”

Corporate clients demand trust and transparency

Drawing from CarbonAI’s experience in developing AI solutions for the carbon market, Ibiyode said large corporate organisations are increasingly demanding stronger assurances around data protection, transparency and accountability before deploying AI systems. According to her, clients want to understand how AI models arrive at their decisions and whether regulatory frameworks exist to protect their customers and employees.

“As we scale to large corporate clients, the questions we get are: ‘How can I trust your model? What are the regulations that protect my customer or my employee using your model?’ There is a critical trust element right now, and only regulation can deliver that peace of mind,” she said. “Corporations want to know the traceability of the model and demand that we explain how the AI arrived at its answers.”

Deepfakes and the case for swift safeguards

Ibiyode said that although foundational AI technologies such as machine learning and deep learning have existed for years, the rapid advancement of generative AI powered by transformer models and natural language processing has heightened concerns over misuse. She warned that technologies such as deepfakes demonstrate why governments must move quickly to establish safeguards that protect citizens while allowing innovation to flourish.

“As humans, we know how to do one thing well: to always seek the negative part of a good thing. We need to put regulations in place so citizens are protected from threats like deepfakes,” she said.

What is AI Diplomacy?

Beyond regulation, the CarbonAI CEO proposed what she called “AI Diplomacy,” a framework designed to help countries and organisations maintain sovereignty over their AI systems and the data used to power them. She explained that while innovation fuels economic growth and regulation provides security, AI diplomacy ensures stakeholders retain control over how local data is collected, used and modelled.

Global struggle to regulate AI

Ibiyode’s warning comes amid concerns over the difficulty in regulating AI globally. Speaking at a recent forum, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Aminu Maida, said regulators all over the world are struggling with striking the right balance between risk mitigation and stifling innovation in their attempt to regulate the technology. According to him, despite the usefulness of AI, its usage also comes with legal and regulatory challenges, which need to be addressed. Maida said getting it right with AI regulation would require the collaboration of all stakeholders, including academia and technology developers.

For Nigeria, the message is clear. Without strong regulation, the country risks losing the economic gains AI promises. Trust, transparency and sovereignty are no longer optional. They are the price of entry.