Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi has responded to an Anthropic report that exposed an alleged artificial intelligence-driven political campaign that generated social media posts praising him over electricity tariffs.
Wandayi maintained that the report did not provide evidence linking him, the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, or any ministry official to the alleged online operation.
“My attention has been drawn to some unverified report alleging the creation of some activity on social media that is purported to have been in praise of the actions of the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum regarding electricity tariffs,” Wandayi said on Friday.
The CS was reacting to Anthropic's September 2026 threat intelligence report, in which the artificial intelligence company said it had detected and disrupted what it described as a coordinated inauthentic behaviour campaign operating in Kenya.
According to Anthropic, a single actor used its Claude AI model to generate Kenyan political content at scale, producing batches of exactly 50 social media posts at a time.
The actor allegedly instructed the AI to make the posts appear as though they were spontaneous comments from ordinary members of the public.
A substantial number of the posts reportedly praised Wandayi over the management of a planned Kenya Power electricity tariff increase. The campaign also used the hashtags #PowerReliefKE and #PoweringTheNewKenya in an apparent effort to boost the visibility and reach of the messages.
Anthropic further said the same AI-based workflow was used for commercial purposes, including promoting Kenyan retail brands through online personas identified as “SHANKI” and “Elkins Marketer”.
However, the company said it had not established the real-world identity of the individual responsible for the operation.
The report also indicated that the activity appeared to have been carried out domestically in Kenya and said Anthropic had found no evidence linking the government to the campaign.
While the campaign's pro-government messaging and use of particular hashtags suggested that it could have been aligned with the ruling coalition, Anthropic said it had not identified the organisation or individuals behind the operation.
Wandayi, in his response, argued that the presence of anonymous or coordinated social media accounts could not automatically be interpreted as proof of government involvement.
“There are probably millions of anonymous and coordinated accounts on social media pushing different narratives every day. What matters is evidence,” he said.
Wandayi's Conflict With Hashtags
In an interesting twist, Wandayi's Friday statement also included the hashtags #PowerReliefKE and #PoweringTheNewKenya, which Anthropic had specifically identified as being used in the AI-generated campaign that promoted him over electricity tariffs.
However, the use of the same hashtags in Wandayi's response does not, by itself, prove any connection between the Cabinet Secretary and the accounts or actor identified in Anthropic's investigation, according to Vantage Ke.
Nonetheless, the Energy CS insisted that the ministry would continue sharing information about its work through official communication channels and would not be drawn into speculation surrounding anonymous activity on social media.
Wandayi's response comes as Anthropic's report continues to raise questions about the growing use of artificial intelligence to influence political conversations and shape public opinion online.
The case has also highlighted the challenge of identifying the individuals or organisations behind AI-assisted influence campaigns, particularly where anonymous accounts and artificially generated content are designed to resemble genuine grassroots engagement.
