The Presidency has dismissed claims that a photograph showing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Rwandan President Paul Kagame having lunch in Paris, France, was generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In a statement issued on Monday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, described reports suggesting the image was AI-generated as misleading and incorrect.
“The narrative that the picture of Presidents Bola Tinubu and Paul Kagame taken in Paris yesterday was AI-generated is not correct,” Ajayi said. “The media reports and social media comments that followed are a misrepresentation of facts. The picture is real and not AI-generated as claimed.”
Ajayi explained that the photograph was taken with a mobile phone and initially appeared of low quality. He said the photographer later used the Grok application solely to enhance the image clarity, stressing that this does not amount to generating the photograph with AI.
“The photographer only later used Grok to improve the picture quality. That is not a reason to conclude it was AI-generated,” he added.
The Presidency had shared the photograph on Sunday, noting that President Tinubu and President Kagame met over lunch in Paris to discuss global issues and strategies for advancing Africa’s development in an increasingly complex global environment.
However, the presence of a Grok watermark on the image triggered reactions on social media, with some users alleging that the photo was artificially generated. A community note on X also suggested the image appeared AI-generated, despite reports confirming the meeting.
Responding to the controversy, Ajayi reaffirmed that both leaders indeed met in Paris on Sunday, January 4, and had lunch together. He added that they later joined French President Emmanuel Macron for dinner the same evening.
He criticised commentators and media organisations for rushing to conclusions without proper verification, noting that they “should have asked questions before arriving at this wrong conclusion.”
