Exposing Venezuelan Celebration Videos and AI-Generated Pictures of Maduro.
Computer-created pictures claiming to show Venezuela's president in custody after his capture by the American authorities have garnered tens of millions of views across the internet.
The Way AI Images of the President Appeared Within Hours
Initial fake synthetic picture seemingly displaying him led off a plane surfaced a brief time later. The graphic was unpublished by any authoritative American sources; it was instead posted on the platform X by an profile describing itself as an “enthusiast of AI-generated art”.
Our analysis used the SynthID tool, which found the image was produced or modified with Google AI.
Additional AI-generated visuals started circulating in the subsequent period, appearing to show additional perspectives of the leader under guard. Visible identifying marks on the graphics reveal they originated from an Instagram account called ultravfx.
The detection tool says all of these images were also generated or edited Google AI.
Real Photo Released but Fakes Persisted
Donald Trump posted the first real photo of Maduro handcuffed aboard the USS Iwo Jima on Saturday morning. But even after this confirmation was made public, synthetic pictures persisted online but were altered to include the grey athletic wear seen on Maduro.
Reverse image searches indicate these altered fabrications were initially shared on the video platform by a graphic design account. Once again, the AI-watermark detector says the new graphics were produced with AI tools.
Key Points:
- AI-generated content spread rapidly after the news of the president's apprehension.
- The first fake picture was shared within hours on platform X.
- Tools like AI-watermark detectors helped to verify the images as inauthentic.
- Fake images continued to circulate and evolve despite the release of real photographs.
- The origin of several fakes was traced to social media profiles focused on AI art.
