Show me evidence: Opiyo Wandayi rejects Anthropic’s AI campaign claims

Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi has dismissed claims by artificial intelligence company Anthropic that his ministry was involved in an AI-driven social media campaign promoting his management of electricity tariffs. Anthropic's September 2026 report alleged a Kenyan political astroturfing operation using its Claude AI to create posts that appeared as authentic public opinion.

However, Wandayi did not find the report's evidence linking him or the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to the online activity convincing. "My attention has been drawn to some unverified report alleging the creation of some activity in social media that is purported to have been in praise of the actions of the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum regarding electricity tariffs," Wandayi stated on Friday, September 11, 2026.

"The particular actor is not identified in the report." The Anthropic report suggested a single actor utilized Claude across multiple sessions to generate sets of 50 posts each. This individual supplied political topics, talking points, and hashtags, guiding the AI to produce the posts as if they were spontaneous comments from ordinary Kenyans.

The campaign primarily praised Wandayi for handling the scheduled Kenya Power electricity tariff increase, employing hashtags #PowerReliefKE and #PoweringTheNewKenya. It also promoted claims that the United Opposition was fragmenting before the 2027 General Election, targeting opposition figures like former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and former President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Nonetheless, Wandayi argued that the presence of anonymous and coordinated social media accounts does not necessarily imply the ministry's endorsement or participation. He emphasized that the ministry would continue to communicate its work through credible channels, refusing to be swayed by conjecture about anonymous online activities.