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NOPE
Low reported severity Internal Action

Mato Grosso, Brazil: court selection commission eliminates a candidate after finding her ID photo showed clear signs of AI generation or editing

A candidate in a selection process to accredit social workers and psychologists for the court district of Brasnorte, in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, was eliminated after the selection support commission found that the 3x4 identification photo she submitted had 'clear and unmistakable traces of generation and/or editing by Artificial Intelligence' and a digital watermark in one corner. The commission's statement of 8 October 2026, accepted by the court district and published in the electronic Justice Gazette on 13 October, treated the picture as a simulated image that did not meet the call's requirement of a recent, faithful facial photograph, and her qualification was annulled. A second candidate was eliminated in the same decision for a mould-stained, outdated photo, with no AI involved. The candidate is not named in the reports, and her response and the tool used are not reported.

AI system
Unidentified image tool
Occurred
Oct 2026
Reported
13 October 2026
Event location
Brazil
What the AI did
Relation unknown
Reported harm
Professional Harm
Whose AI use
AI role unknown
Setting
Work · Public services
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
3 claims: 3 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Unidentified image tool; the court selection commission found that the submitted 3x4 photo showed traces of generation and/or editing by artificial intelligence and carried a digital watermark; no product is named

What Happened

The selection. The Brasnorte court district in Mato Grosso ran a selection to build a reserve list of social workers and psychologists who act in the district's judicial proceedings without an employment contract. The call required a recent, digitised 3x4 photograph suitable for official identification.

The finding. According to Fatos de Mato Grosso, the selection support commission concluded in a statement of 8 October 2026 that the photo one candidate submitted had clear and unmistakable traces of generation and/or editing by artificial intelligence, and a digital watermark in the lower right corner; it also found the portrait outdated and outside the official 3x4 standard, and described it as a simulation of an image. The court district accepted the statement in full and it was published in the electronic Justice Gazette on 13 October. G1 reports the same quotation from the publication.

The consequence. The candidate's qualification was annulled and her application rejected. Another candidate was eliminated in the same decision because her photo was described as outdated and stained with mould. The reports do not name either candidate or report a response.

Reported harm

The candidate's qualification in the court accreditation selection was annulled after the commission found her photo bore signs of AI generation or editing (commission statement as reported by Fatos de Mato Grosso and G1).

How Harm Occurred

A 3x4 identification photo that the selection commission found had been generated or edited by AI led the court district to annul the candidate's qualification for accreditation.

Outcome

Pending

The commission's statement of 8 October 2026 was accepted in full by the Brasnorte court district and published in the electronic Justice Gazette on 13 October 2026; the candidate's qualification was annulled. The next steps reported are publication of the final result and homologation (Fatos de Mato Grosso, G1). Whether she appealed is not reported.

What remains unknown

  • Which tool produced or edited the photo, who generated or edited it, and whether it began as a real photograph.
  • The candidate's response and whether she appealed.
  • The date the photo was submitted.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Consequential response: the court district's selection commission, which examined the submitted photo, found clear traces of generation and/or editing by artificial intelligence and a digital watermark, and on that finding, together with the photo's failure to meet the official 3x4 standard, the candidate's qualification was annulled. The tool and the candidate's own account are not reported.

3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The selection support commission found that the 3x4 photo the candidate submitted had clear and unmistakable traces of generation and/or editing by artificial intelligence, and a digital watermark in the lower right corner.

Causal attribution. The commission's finding as published in the Justice Gazette, reported by both outlets; one origin. The gazette itself was not read.

  • fatosdematogrosso.com.br(opens in new tab) supports · Portuguese
    'Segundo a comissão, a imagem tinha “traços nítidos e inconfundíveis de geração e/ou edição por Inteligência Artificial”, além de um elemento gráfico, uma marca d’água digital, no canto inferior direito.'
  • g1.globo.com(opens in new tab) supports · Portuguese
    'Segundo a publicação, a imagem enviada pela candidata “possui traços nítidos e inconfundíveis de geração e/ou edição por Inteligência Artificial (IA)”.'
Reported The commission's statement of 8 October 2026 was accepted in full by the Brasnorte court district and published in the electronic Justice Gazette on 13 October 2026; the candidate's qualification was annulled.

Causal attribution. Gazette publication as reported by both outlets; one origin.

  • fatosdematogrosso.com.br(opens in new tab) supports · Portuguese
    'A conclusão está em manifestação da Comissão de Apoio ao Processo Seletivo, de 8 de outubro, acolhida integralmente pela Comarca de Brasnorte, e publicada no Diário da Justiça Eletrônico desta terça-feira (13).'; 'A habilitação da candidata foi tornada sem efeito.'
  • g1.globo.com(opens in new tab) supports · Portuguese
    'A decisão foi publicada no Diário da Justiça Eletrônico desta terça-feira (13).'; 'As duas candidaturas foram indeferidas.'
Reported The commission also judged the portrait outdated and outside the official 3x4 standard and called it a simulation of an image that breached the call's requirement of a faithful recent facial photograph.

Causal attribution. The commission's reasoning as reported by Fatos de Mato Grosso; the ground of elimination combines the AI finding and the photo standard.

  • fatosdematogrosso.com.br(opens in new tab) supports · Portuguese
    'O retrato também foi considerado desatualizado e incompatível com o padrão oficial de foto 3x4. Para os avaliadores, tratou-se de “simulação de imagem”, que descumpre a exigência de fidelidade da imagem facial recente.'

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Portuguese by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-15 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Regional legal-news report on the commission statement published in the electronic Justice Gazette, 13 October 2026; HTTP 200. Applies to s1.

Read in Portuguese by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-15 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. G1 Mato Grosso report on the same publication, 14 October 2026; HTTP 200. Applies to s2.

Event countries: Brazil. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Brazil.

The selection was run by the Brasnorte court district of the Mato Grosso Court of Justice, Brazil, and the decision was published in its electronic gazette. The candidate's residence and nationality are not stated.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-15: Published as a consequential-response case (relation unknown, exemption consequential_response): a court selection commission found the candidate's ID photo bore clear signs of AI generation or editing and her qualification was annulled, as published in the electronic Justice Gazette and reported by two outlets. The candidate is not named.

People described

A candidate for accreditation as a social worker or psychologist in a court selection process in Mato Grosso, eliminated over her photo

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One person counted: the candidate eliminated over the photo the commission found AI-generated or AI-edited. She is counted as a person harmed rather than as an AI user because the sources do not say who generated or edited the photo. The second eliminated candidate is not counted because no AI involvement is described for her photo.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#id_photo#selection_process#court#elimination#brazil

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Mato Grosso, Brazil: court selection commission eliminates a candidate after finding her ID photo showed clear signs of AI generation or editing. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-mato-grosso-court-selection-candidate-eliminated-over-id-photo-with-signs-of-ai-generation

BibTeX

@misc{2026_mato_grosso_court_selection_candidate_eliminated_over_id_photo_with_signs_of_ai_generation,
  title = {Mato Grosso, Brazil: court selection commission eliminates a candidate after finding her ID photo showed clear signs of AI generation or editing},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-mato-grosso-court-selection-candidate-eliminated-over-id-photo-with-signs-of-ai-generation}
}

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