INEC Blames Registration Officers For AI-Generated Photos In Voter Register

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has blamed some of its registration officers for the appearance of suspected artificial intelligence (AI)-generated photographs and other irregularities in its preliminary register of voters.

The commission said some officers allegedly exploited their access to its registration portal to introduce questionable records into the voter database.

INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Lawrence Bayode, disclosed this on Friday during an interview on Arise Television while responding to public concerns over discrepancies discovered in the recently released preliminary voter register.

The commission had come under criticism following the circulation of screenshots showing suspected AI-generated photographs, duplicate entries and names of deceased persons in the register.

Some of the disputed entries reportedly came from a polling unit in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State.

Explaining how the irregularities occurred, Bayode said registration officers deployed across the country had individual login credentials that enabled them to access the registration system.

He said investigations had revealed that some officers used the access to introduce questionable entries into the database.

“We have registration officers on the field. And these registration officers, they have login details to log into the system,” he said.

Bayode added that the commission had identified how some of the irregularities were introduced, although the motive behind the actions remained unclear.

“When the ABIS was run on the system, we saw these people. We know what they did. We know how they did it. But honestly, I don’t know why,” he said.

He, however, maintained that the commission had commenced the process of cleaning up the voter register before making the preliminary version public.

The INEC official attributed some of the challenges to the pressure of completing the registration exercise within the statutory 90-day period.

He also acknowledged that some of the photographs were AI-generated, describing the conduct of the officers responsible as poor registration practice.