The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has removed artificial intelligence-generated photographs uploaded to the national voters’ register and flagged officials implicated in the practice across 10 states for disciplinary action.
INEC National Commissioner, Mohammed Haruna, disclosed this on Wednesday during a webinar organised by the PUNCH Media Foundation, warning that the misuse of artificial intelligence posed emerging challenges to the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral process.
The webinar was themed ‘AI, Misinformation and Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Safeguarding the Truth, Protecting the Vote’.
Haruna, who chairs the commission’s Information and Voter Education Committee, said INEC had already taken down several AI-generated photographs discovered on the voters’ register.
“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 acknowledged that the commission faced limitations in preventing members of the public from manipulating or enhancing photographs before uploading them during voter registration.
He said INEC was more capable of addressing cases involving its own personnel, adding that officials implicated in the irregularities had 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 said.
He disclosed that the commission had obtained the names of the affected officials across about 10 states, stressing that disciplinary measures would follow.
“We have their names across about 10 states, and obviously, they are going to face disciplinary action,” he added.
On INEC’s preparedness to regulate artificial intelligence in the electoral process, Haruna said the commission had developed an AI policy but was working towards its finalisation.
He observed that the rapidly evolving nature of artificial intelligence had made it difficult for countries, including advanced democracies, to establish comprehensive regulatory frameworks.
“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 assured that INEC had outlined its approach to deploying artificial intelligence and would soon finalise the policy for public consideration.
He said the commission would subsequently make the document available to the media, as preparations intensify towards the 2027 general elections.
