Fresh controversy had erupted over viral images purporting to show Tinubu in a meeting with Kagame, in Paris, after observers flagged that the pictures were likely generated by artificial intelligence.
The photographs, which were widely circulated on social media on Sunday, bore a visible watermark from Grok, a generative AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s company, xAI. This has raised questions about the authenticity of the reported meeting.
Bellnews reports that the meeting was first disclosed by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who posted about it on Facebook.
Reacting swiftly in a statement on Monday, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, said the image was not AI generated.
He stated that the photographer only used grok to improve the picture quality.
Ajayi said: “The narrative that the picture of Presidents Bola Tinubu and Paul Kagame taken in Paris yesterday was AI generated is not correct.
“The media report and social media comments that followed are misrepresentation of facts.
“The picture is real and not AI generated as claimed.
“Both President Kagame and President Tinubu met in Paris had lunch together on Sunday (yesterday).
“The two leaders later had dinner with President Macron same yesterday evening. 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 it was AI generated.
“The writer or editor should have asked questions before this wrong conclusion.”