Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary (PS) Korir Sing’oei has apologized for sharing a viral artificial intelligence (AI)-generated CNN analysis video supporting Kenya’s involvement with Sudan’s peace efforts.
Dr. Korir Sing’oei shared the video on Thursday, February 2o, which sparked widespread backlash before he was forced to pull it down.
On Friday, the PS issued an apology explaining that the video disguised as a genuine commentary confused him and thanked everyone who flagged the video as a deepfake.
He further said that the Foreign Affairs 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.
“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 deepfake,” said the PS.
Korir Sing’oei apologises
Additionally, PS Korir has maintained that the ministry is “designing—with the collaboration of partners and big-tech companies—the School on AI Diplomacy (SAID) at the Foreign Services Academy—a program that I will attend—to equip policymakers better to navigate these emerging challenges”.
“My apologies once again and sincerely appreciate everyone’s vigilance, correction, and candor, ” added the PS.
Dr. Sing’oei on Thursday came under fire for posting the AI-generated deepfake on his official X account, highlighting Kenya’s role in peace diplomacy in Sudan.
The video, designed to appear as a CNN broadcast, falsely featured journalist Fareed Zakaria discussing Kenya’s involvement in the peace efforts.
Also Read: Sudan Recalls Ambassador to Kenya with Immediate Effect
The PS followed the video with a caption suggesting that he was trying to present the deepfake 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.
“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,” read the caption.
PS shares a deepfake
The video quickly attracted criticism from Kenyans on X, who called out Korir for misleading the public by using AI-generated media to promote a government narrative.
The Kenya Times conducted a forensic analysis to identify the authenticity of the video.
First, one could easily tell that the video was fake due to its poor quality and the fact that Fareed Zakaria’s mouth movements did not match the sound.
Also Read: PS Sing’oei Forced to Pull Down AI-Generated CNN Analysis on Kenya Hosting Sudan Rebels
Also, the graphic overlay (lower third) placed at the bottom of the screen appeared amateurish.
A reverse search further led us to the original video, which featured Zakaria’s analysis on Trump’s White House, titled “Trump’s White House is Like a Royal Court.”
Neither CNN nor Zakaria had also shared the video on their respective platforms.
Not too long after a barrage of attacks and ridicule from all corners, Sing’oei deleted the video which had accumulated over 60,000 views.
A deepfake refers to media—typically video or audio—that has been manipulated with AI technology to create convincing but false representations of individuals saying or doing things they never actually did.
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