The United States Department of State has apologised after an artificial intelligence-generated map of Africa displayed during an official presentation at the AIDS 2026 Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, incorrectly relocated Nigeria and several other African countries, triggering widespread criticism.

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The controversial map, shown during a session on new U.S. global health agreements, quickly drew attention after participants shared screenshots on social media, questioning how such significant geographical errors appeared in an official U.S. government presentation. Video footage from the conference showed the slide carried an OpenAI watermark, indicating it had been created using the company’s artificial intelligence tools. OpenAI has since said it is looking into the incident.

Among the most notable errors, Nigeria was depicted as a landlocked country in the Sahara Desert despite its actual location on the Gulf of Guinea. Mozambique was incorrectly shifted to the Horn of Africa, while Ivory Coast was placed on the opposite side of the continent. The inaccuracies sparked criticism from conference attendees and observers, with many describing the mistakes as embarrassing given the international nature of the event.

The issue first gained wider attention after AIDS expert Emily Bass published screenshots of the presentation in a Substack post, prompting widespread discussion online.

Responding to the controversy, the U.S. State Department accepted responsibility for the mistake and apologised to African partners and conference participants. The department attributed the error to last-minute edits made before the presentation, explaining that a staff member inserted the inaccurate AI-generated map during a rushed modification.

“We take full responsibility for the confusion and misrepresentation it caused for attendees, including our African partners,” the department said in a statement.

Despite the incident, U.S. officials maintained that discussions at the conference remained productive and reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to global HIV/AIDS programmes and partnerships across Africa.