The Presidency on Monday defended a viral image showing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Paris, saying the photo was real but was improved with an AI tool to boost its quality.
The clarification came after social media users spotted a Grok watermark on the picture and accused aides of posting an AI-generated image.
“The use of an image enhancement tool does not make the photograph artificial or AI-generated,” the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, said in a statement.
Ajayi explained the original photo was taken on a mobile phone and that Grok — an AI image tool — was used only “to enhance the image quality, not to generate or manipulate the image itself.”
President Tinubu had posted on X that he and Kagame “had a private lunch … to discuss the current state of world affairs and advancing Africa in an ever-changing global landscape.”
The social media post prompted a wider debate about the use of AI in official communications.
Critics on X and other platforms said the presence of an AI watermark raised questions about transparency and about why an original, unedited photo was not used.
Fact-checking sites and newsrooms picked up the story after the presidential aide shared the image.
The Presidency urged reporters and commentators to verify facts before sharing claims and warned against spreading misinformation about matters involving diplomacy.
Meanwhile, the two presidents’ meeting — held on the sidelines of events in Paris — remains confirmed by official posts and statements.
