US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference

A US State Department map of Africa mislabeled every country during a presentation at the AIDS 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro. Reuters found an AI watermark indicating the map was made with OpenAI tools. The State Department took full responsibility, saying a team member hastily changed the slide deck. The map showed Nigeria as landlocked in the Sahara, Mozambique relocated to the Horn of Africa, and Ivory Coast placed on the other side of the continent. Screenshots were widely shared on LinkedIn, with one post gaining about 40,000 views.

A US government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a State Department presentation at the AIDS 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this week. The map was displayed halfway through a presentation about new health agreements, causing a stir among attendees who took screenshots and posted them online. Reuters viewed a video of the presentation and found that the image contained an artificial intelligence watermark, indicating it was made with OpenAI tools. The company said it was investigating the report. The State Department took full responsibility for the confusion, stating that the map had been produced by a team member who hastily changed the slide deck before the event. The map showed Nigeria, where the US has several hundred troops deployed, as landlocked in the Sahara Desert. Mozambique, in southeastern Africa, was relocated to the Horn of Africa, while Ivory Coast in West Africa was placed on the other side of the continent. Screenshots first appeared in a Substack post by AIDS expert Emily Bass and were widely shared on LinkedIn, with one post garnering some 40,000 views. Matt Petit, who focuses on AI and geopolitics at the Atlantic Council, wrote that the creator did not know where countries in Africa are and did not care to check their work. The speaker was Jeff Graham, the top US health envoy overseeing PEPFAR, who did not reply to requests for comment. The State Department said discussions were substantive and constructive despite the map, and it remains committed to fighting AIDS. The Trump administration's decision last year to pause funding disrupted aid programs, but PEPFAR's core work has largely resumed. The US is scaling back other spending areas and plans to phase out the program in South Africa.