The Independent National Electoral Commission has removed artificial intelligence-generated photographs from the national Register of Voters and identified officials implicated in the irregularities across 10 states ahead of the 2027 general elections.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, disclosed this on Wednesday during a webinar organised by the PUNCH Media Foundation.
The webinar, themed, “AI, Misinformation and Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Safeguarding the Truth, Protecting the Vote,” examined the growing influence of artificial intelligence and digital misinformation on the country’s electoral process.
Haruna described the discovery of AI-generated photographs in the voters’ register as one of the major challenges confronting the commission.
He explained that some photographs submitted during voter registration were generated entirely through artificial intelligence and subsequently uploaded into the commission’s database.
According to him, INEC had identified the questionable photographs and removed them from the register as part of efforts to protect the credibility of the electoral process.
“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,” he said.
The commissioner, however, acknowledged that preventing members of the public from using artificial intelligence applications to enhance their photographs before uploading them could be difficult.
He stressed that the commission had greater control over cases involving its own personnel, adding that officials found to have participated in the irregularities had already been identified and flagged.
“But the ones involving our own staff, where it is our own staff that did so, that one is within our control. We are in the process of addressing it. They have been flagged,” Haruna stated.
He further disclosed that the commission had obtained the names of the affected officials across approximately 10 states and that disciplinary measures would be taken against those involved.
“We have their names across about 10 states, and obviously, they are going to face disciplinary action,” he added.
On the commission’s preparedness to regulate artificial intelligence during the 2027 elections, Haruna said INEC had developed an artificial intelligence policy but was still working towards finalising the document.
He noted that artificial intelligence was a relatively new area presenting evolving challenges, making it difficult for governments and electoral institutions to establish comprehensive regulatory frameworks.
According to him, even advanced democracies were still working towards developing specific policies to address the emerging technology.
He assured Nigerians that INEC had already outlined how it intended to manage and deploy artificial intelligence within the electoral process.
The commissioner said the policy would soon be finalised and made available to the media and other stakeholders for public consideration.
The development comes amid growing concerns over the integrity of the voters’ register following the circulation of questionable photographs and other irregularities in the preliminary register published by the commission.
INEC has maintained that its ongoing verification and data-cleaning exercise is aimed at ensuring that only legitimate voter records are retained ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The commission’s actions are also expected to strengthen public confidence in the electoral process and prevent the misuse of emerging technologies to manipulate voter registration.
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