By Sa’adiyyah Adebisi Hassan
The latest lie circulating online is the claim that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s photo with President Paul Kagame is “AI-generated.” The entire argument rests on one flimsy detail: a visible Grok label on the image. That’s it. No evidence, no analysis – just loud ignorance dressed up as intelligence.
For clarity, Grok is X’s built-in AI assistant, similar to Meta AI on Facebook or Gemini on Google. When an image is viewed, reposted, cropped, enhanced, or analyzed through X’s interface, it can automatically carry a Grok tag. This does not mean the image was generated by AI. It simply means it passes through the platform’s AI layer. Calling a real photograph “AI” because of a Grok label is like calling a document fake because it was opened in Microsoft Word.
Instead of admitting they don’t understand how the platform works, trolls escalated immediately to conspiracy: Tinubu is dead, on drugs, hiding, cloned, or running a fake presidency. This isn’t skepticism. It’s digital illiteracy mixed with political desperation.
The image itself exposes the lie. Anyone familiar with AI-generated images knows their weaknesses: inconsistent reflections, distorted hands, poor depth of field, warped cutlery, and broken spatial geometry. This photograph shows coherent lighting, accurate reflections on glassware, natural fabric folds, realistic aging, and proper spatial alignment – exactly what you expect from a real photo taken in a controlled diplomatic setting. Two sitting African presidents, meeting quietly at a private lunch, discussing global affairs. Nothing dramatic. Nothing theatrical. Just reality.
That reality is precisely the problem.
The photo shows Tinubu alive, active, internationally engaged, and operating at presidential capacity. No chaos. No noise. No spectacle. For people whose politics depends on hysteria, that calm normalcy is unacceptable. So the fallback fantasy becomes “It’s AI.”
There’s also the familiar contradiction.The same crowd crying about a wristwatch they Googled into a fantasy price tag, suddenly argue that the same person can’t afford a camera, a photographer, or competent media staff. Is he a billionaire puppet master or a fake president fabricating images? You can’t have both unless logic has completely collapsed.
Watch the pattern: when he’s quiet, he’s “missing.” When he appears, it’s “AI.” When he travels, he’s “hiding.” When he governs, he’s “not in charge.” This isn’t political opposition – it’s psychological denial. A refusal to accept an outcome they didn’t want.
Serious critics debate policy. Desperate people debate pixels, watermarks, and imaginary drug use. Dragging a sitting president into baseless allegations of death, fraud, or addiction without evidence isn’t courage. It’s intellectual bankruptcy.
President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not need to prove his existence to people who mistake software labels for forensic proof. While some are screaming “AI!” at a Grok tag, real presidents are having real meetings, in real rooms, shaping real outcomes.
The Grok label exposed nothing – except the level of ignorance of those shouting the loudest.
Reality remains undefeated.
