Presidency debunks AI-generated photo of Tinubu, Kagame in Paris

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

Pictures shared on Tinubu’s official X account on Sunday bore a visible Grok watermark, indicating they were AI-generated.

Grok is a generative AI chatbot developed by xAI, a company owned by Elon Musk.

The platform is capable of real-time searches and image generation, among other features.

However, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, in a statement on Monday, January 5, 2026, said reports on the pictures misrepresented the facts.

The presidential aide added that the image was enhanced using Grok to improve its quality, a move he said should not be misconstrued as evidence that the picture was artificially generated.

Tinubu, aides share AI-generated picture of meeting with Kagame in Paris

Ajayi stated: “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).

“They both 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.”

The Star