The Presidency has dismissed claims circulating in parts of the media and on social media suggesting that a photograph of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Rwandan President Paul Kagame taken in Paris was generated by artificial intelligence, describing the narrative as false and misleading.
In a clarification statement issued on Monday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, stated that the photograph is genuine and was taken during an actual meeting between the two leaders in Paris on Sunday.
According to the statement, President Tinubu and President Kagame met and had lunch together earlier in the day, before later joining French President Emmanuel Macron for dinner the same evening.
Ajayi explained that the picture, which sparked the controversy, was taken with a mobile phone and initially appeared of poor quality. He noted that the photographer later used an image-enhancement tool, Grok, to improve its clarity, stressing that this did not amount to artificial intelligence image generation.
“The picture is real and not AI-generated as claimed. Image enhancement should not be misconstrued as image fabrication,” the statement said.
The Presidency criticised the reports and social media commentary that concluded the image was fake, saying they amounted to a misrepresentation of facts and could have been avoided through proper verification.
It further urged media practitioners to uphold responsible journalism by seeking clarification before publishing claims that could mislead the public.
