The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has flagged some of its officials in 10 states over the upload of artificial intelligence-generated photographs to the national voters’ register, Naija News reports.
The commission said the affected officials had been identified and would face disciplinary action.
INEC National Commissioner, Mohammed Haruna, disclosed this on Wednesday during a webinar organised by the Punch.
The webinar was titled ‘AI, Misinformation and Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Safeguarding the Truth, Protecting the Vote’.
Haruna, who is also the Chairman of INEC Information and Voter Education Committee, said the commission had discovered several AI-generated photographs on the voters’ register and had removed them.
He described the development as a major challenge, noting that the growing use of artificial intelligence had made it easier for people to alter their photographs before uploading them.
According to him, INEC might find it difficult to stop members of the public from editing their pictures, but it had the power to take action against its own officials involved in the practice.
He said, “We have already seen one of the challenges, which is that a lot of AI-generated photographs were posted onto the voters’ register, which, as we have said, we have had to take down.”
The commissioner explained that the commission had started addressing cases involving its personnel, adding that those identified had already been flagged.
He further disclosed that INEC had obtained the names of the officials involved across about 10 states.
“We have their names across about 10 states, and obviously, they are going to face disciplinary action,” he added.
Speaking on INEC’s plans to control the use of artificial intelligence in the electoral process ahead of the 2027 general elections, Haruna said the commission had developed a policy but was yet to finalise it.
He explained that the technology was still developing and had continued to create new challenges, making it difficult for even advanced countries to establish clear rules for its use.
“As you know very well, it is new territory out there. Even the most advanced countries don’t have what you might call concrete, specific policies about AI because these things are evolving,” he said.
Haruna, however, said INEC had already identified how it intended to use artificial intelligence and was working to complete its policy.
He added that the document would soon be made available to the media and the public for consideration.
“But we have at least some ideas of what we want to do and how we want to use that. We have that policy. Very soon, we will concretise it, and we will be able to share it with the media,” he said.
