AI watermark found on map indicates use of OpenAI tools

A U.S. State Department map of Africa displayed at the AIDS 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro misplaced every country, according to a report by The Guardian, placing Nigeria in the Sahara desert and Mozambique in the Horn of Africa. A Reuters analysis of the map, cited in that report, found an AI watermark indicating it was created with OpenAI tools, which the company said it was investigating.

The map appeared halfway through a presentation by Jeff Graham, the top U.S. health envoy who oversees the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. Reuters viewed video of the Sunday presentation, and the mislabeled map was shown during a discussion of the State Department’s new health agreements. Among the errors, Nigeria — where the U.S. currently has several hundred troops deployed — was depicted as landlocked in the Sahara, Mozambique was relocated to the Horn of Africa, and Côte d’Ivoire was placed on the opposite side of the continent from its actual west African location.

The State Department said in a statement that it takes “full responsibility for the confusion and misrepresentation it caused for attendees, including our African partners.” The department said the map was produced by a team member who hastily altered the slide deck before the event. Graham did not reply to requests for comment.

Screenshots of the map first surfaced in a Substack post by the AIDS expert Emily Bass and then spread on LinkedIn, where one post received about 40,000 views. Matt Petit, who focuses on AI and geopolitics at the Atlantic Council, wrote in that post: “Whoever created and approved this slide did not know where countries in Africa are and did not care to check their work.”

The State Department added that the discussions at the conference were “substantive and constructive” and that it remained committed to fighting AIDS with real results. The incident unfolded against a backdrop of shifting U.S. global health policy. The Trump administration’s decision last year to pause PEPFAR funding pending a review disrupted aid programs worldwide, though the program’s core work, including the provision of life-saving drugs, has largely resumed. The United States is scaling back other areas of spending, including prevention and surveillance, and plans to fully phase out the program in South Africa.