By Desire Emmanuel
The Presidency on Monday, January 5, reacted to various insinuations regarding the photograph of President Bola Tinubu and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, having lunch in Paris, France, saying it was not generated through Artificial Intelligence platform, Grok.
The Presidency, in a statement by Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, said contrary to the insinuations, both leaders had dinner in Paris on Sunday and the photograph was real.
The social media was literally set on fire on Sunday night when the photograph was posted, with many citizens saying it was generated with the help of Grok, as its watermark was visible in the photograph.
However, while reacting to the insinuations, the Presidency insisted that the photograph was taken when Tinubu and Kagame had lunch, adding that both leaders later had dinner with the French President, Emmanuel Macron.
The statement reads: “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 and 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.”
