U. S. delegation uses AI slop map of Africa at AIDS conference
Welcome to Offrica. The map as seen in video posted onlineA U. S. State Department map of Africamislabeled every country it depictedduring a presentation at the AIDS 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro. The. . .
Welcome to Offrica. The map as seen in video posted onlineA U. S. State Department map of Africamislabeled every country it depictedduring a presentation at the AIDS 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro. The slide was so egregiously wrong that multiple attendees whipped out their phones to get a shot of it; Emily Bass, a writer and AIDS expert,wrote about it at length. "The US government's failure to catch this error before displaying the slide at the top international AIDS conference in the world, in a session that featured the Director General of Nigeria as an invited guest, is not only disrespectful to African collaborators, it's also a significant tell. " wrote Bass. Senior officials from several African governments were reportedly among those present. The map shows six countries receiving U. S. health funding and none of them are correctly named or placed. Nigeria has migrated north to become landlocked in the Sahara. Mozambique has roughly replaced Ethiopia. The Ivory Coast was placed in southern Africa, far from any coast, its name an ignored clue. Uganda and Malawi are not so far off, but drawn with wrong borders. Cameroon was named but assigned no territory at all. While one country on the Gulf of Guinea—a hypothetical union of Ghana, Benin and Togo?—went unnamed. Perhaps that is Cameroon now. The speaker was Jeff Graham, the U. S. health envoy who oversees PEPFAR. "Whoever created and approved this slide did not know where countries in Africa are and did not care to check their work," wrote Matt Petit. Reuters reviewed video of the presentationand concluded that the map was AI slop. "A Reuters analysis found the image of the map included in the presentation contained an artificial intelligence watermark that signals it was made with OpenAI tools. The company said it was investigating the report. " The State Department said it took "full responsibility" and blamed a staffer who changed the slide deck shortly before the event. This sort of thing is normal in the Trump administration. Last year, the White House's "Make America Healthy Again" reportcited studies that did not exist, with fabricated references and other hallmarks of AI slop. The US State Department Redraws the Map of Africa at the AIDS2026 Conference[Emily Bass]Lawsuit claims underperforming Comcast workers subjected to abusive ritualA Comcast manager allegedly abused underperforming workers by smashing pies in their faces, a lawsuit claims, recording the assaults in camera and ordering other employees to participate in the abuse. …READ THE RESTThe cars he hated became the prosecution's photo departmentA man accused of spray-painting "Nazi" and "Fascist" on 13 Teslas was apparently undone by the feature he neglected to vandalize: their cameras. The cars became stooges for the cops;…READ THE RESTTrailer for Wicker, starring Olivia Colman, Peter Dinklage and Alexander SkarsgårdWicker is a movie about a fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) who, tired of her community's disdain, has the basketweaver (Peter Dinklage) craft her a husband (Alexander Skarsgård) out of wicker. Here's…READ THE RESTSkip the resume rewrites with FirstResume for $39. 99Disclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. TL;DR: FirstResume helps automate the job search by tailoring resumes, writing cover letters, prepping interviews, researching companies,…READ THE RESTAcePDF turns document cleanup into one less headacheDisclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. TL;DR: AcePDF Converter & Editor is $23. 97 (reg. $99. 99) with tools to convert, create, edit, merge, split,…READ THE RESTYour PC upgrade checklist starts here: Windows 11 Pro and Office 2021 for one $33 paymentDisclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. TL;DR: Get lifetime access to Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for just $32. 97…READ THE REST