A photograph showing President Bola Tinubu in a meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame has sparked online debate after users noticed a Grok watermark on the image.
The image, reportedly taken during a meeting in Paris on Sunday, was shared on President Tinubu’s official X account and later reposted by his aide.
Grok Watermark Triggers Questions
Social media users quickly pointed out the visible Grok watermark, raising concerns about whether the image was generated using artificial intelligence.
Grok is a generative AI chatbot developed by xAI, a company owned by billionaire Elon Musk, and is known for image generation and enhancement.
Dada Olusegun, the president’s special assistant on new media, also shared the same image, which further fueled public scrutiny.
Several Nigerians on X accused the presidential aide of circulating what they described as an AI-generated image of an official presidential meeting.
“Mr Dada Olusegun why are you using Grok to generate a picture of what was supposed to have happened? Is it incompetence or you are trying to tell us something?” an X user asked Olusegun.
Presidency Responds
Presidency sources, however, told news reporter that the photograph was not generated by Grok but merely enhanced using the AI tool.
According to the sources, the original photo taken at the lunch meeting was of low quality and was later improved with Grok’s image enhancement feature.
President Tinubu had travelled from Lagos to Europe on December 28 as part of his end-of-year holiday schedule.
Public Reactions Intensify
Biafra lobby, Elias Gerasoulis wrote: “There is a notification at the end of the tweet by @officialABAT from Grok that this photo of President Tinubu and President Kagame is likely AI produced.
“It would typically be shocking that a head of state would be issuing forged photos, but that should not be a surprise with Tinubu.
“He is able to forge this photo the same way he allegedly forges his diploma, and plans to forge the 2027 elections in Nigeria.”
Ademola wrote: “AI generated image ???? what is even real in this administration at this point … cos if handler can’t even know you cannot use an AI generated image for a presidential official presentation like this … omo smh!”
Deechairman said: “Breeze don blow we don see the fowl’s nyash , a whole president using AI picture . This man no just rate us at all.”
Necherem wrote: “Who authorized this embarrassing post? Must we lie about everything?”
Diplomat wrote: “I was informed by my brother, @sadiqGsadiq, that this image might be AI-generated. Considering how easy it is to manipulate images today, including adding someone to the empty chair in between you people, can you prove that this image is genuine and the news isn’t false?”