Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei has apologized for posting an artificially generated deep fake video on his X account which falsely depicted CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria discussing the role of Kenya in the peace diplomacy for Sudan
Taking on X, Sing’oei acknowledged his mistake and addressed the backlash he received.
“I sincerely apologize for inadvertently posting an AI-generated video disguised as a genuine commentary from Fareed Zakaria of CNN on the search for peace in the Sudan conflict and Kenya’s role in it. I regret any confusion this may have caused and thank everyone who flagged the video as a deep fake,” the PS stated.
He further announced that the Foreign Affairs Ministry is working to address the challenges posed by AI content.
Sing’oei added that they’ll be partnering with the School on AI Diplomacy (SAID) at the Foreign Services Academy where he will attend and be equipped better to navigate the challenges.
“Our Ministry has been working with partners and tech companies to explore the potential of watermarking AI-generated content to ensure that such material does not pose as human-generated material,” he said
Yesterday, the PS attracted sharp criticism from Kenyans on social media for ostensibly misleading the public by using AI-generated media to promote a government narrative.
The video was designed to appear like a CNN broadcast falsely capturing Fareed Zakaria discussing the involvement of Kenya in the peace efforts.
The PS captioned the video: “For the fake analysts who doubt the good faith of Kenya’s peace diplomacy, here is a cogent assessment by CNN’s Foreign Policy expert, Fareed Zakaria.”
The caption suggested that Sing’oei was trying to present the deep fake video as legitimate evidence of Kenya’s successful peace diplomacy efforts, falsely using the image of a well-known journalist to lend credibility to his claims.
Not too long after a barrage of attacks and ridicule from all corners, Sing’oei deleted the video – but the damage, judging by the over 60,000 views it had already accumulated, appears to have already been done.
