AI Used to Improve Quality of Tinubu-Kagame Paris Meeting Photo, Presidency Gives Details

• The Presidency has responded to the reports alleging that a photograph of President Bola Tinubu with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Paris was generated using artificial intelligence, insisting the image is authentic.

The Presidency has debunked claims that a photograph showing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with Rwandan President Paul Kagame during a meeting in Paris was generated using artificial intelligence.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, described the reports and the accompanying social media reactions as a misrepresentation of facts.

Ajayi insisted that the photograph was genuine, explaining that both leaders met in Paris on Sunday and shared meals during their engagements.

“The narrative that the picture of Presidents Bola Tinubu and Paul Kagame taken in Paris yesterday was AI-generated is not correct,” he said.

According to him, President Tinubu and President Kagame had lunch together earlier in the day and later joined French President Emmanuel Macron for dinner the same evening.

Ajayi explained that the controversy arose from the poor quality of the original image, which was taken with a mobile phone and later enhanced using the Grok tool.

“The picture was taken with a phone and obviously had poor quality. The photographer only later used Grok to improve the picture quality. That is not a reason to conclude that it was AI-generated,” he stated.

He criticised reports suggesting otherwise, noting that proper verification should have been carried out before publication.

The photograph, which bore a Grok watermark, circulated widely on social media after it was shared on President Tinubu’s official X handle. In the post, the President said the meeting focused on global developments and Africa’s future.

“This afternoon, I had a private lunch with H.E. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda to discuss the current state of world affairs and advancing Africa in an ever-changing global landscape,” Tinubu wrote.

The same image was also shared by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who described the engagement as a private lunch between the two leaders in Paris.

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However, a Community Note added to the post suggested the image might not be authentic due to the presence of the Grok watermark, sparking debate online about the use of AI-enhanced images in official government communications.

The development has reignited conversations around transparency and the appropriate use of AI tools in public information, particularly in matters involving international diplomacy.

President Tinubu has been in Europe since December 28, after departing Lagos for an end-of-year break.