Debunking Venezuelan Victory Videos and AI-Generated Pictures of Maduro.
Synthetic pictures purporting to portray Venezuela's president in custody following his apprehension by the American authorities have garnered many millions of impressions online.
The Way AI Images of Maduro Surfaced Within Hours
The first fabricated synthetic picture apparently showing him being escorted off a plane emerged within hours. The graphic was absent from any authoritative American sources; it was instead published on the platform X by an account purporting to be an “AI video art enthusiast”.
We’ve checked Google’s SynthID, which found the picture was generated or edited with AI tools.
Further AI-generated visuals were disseminated in the subsequent hours, purporting to present different views of the leader detained. Visible watermarks on the graphics reveal they originated from an Instagram account named ultravfx.
SynthID says all of these images were also produced using Google AI.
Real Photo Released but Fakes Continued
Donald Trump posted the genuine photograph of Nicolás Maduro restrained aboard the US Navy ship on that morning. However, despite the authentic image was published, synthetic pictures continued to spread but were altered to show the gray sweatsuit seen on Maduro.
Reverse image searches show the new fake images were first posted on the video platform by a digital art account. Similarly, the AI-watermark detector confirms these subsequent pictures were produced with generative artificial intelligence.
Important Facts:
- Deepfakes spread rapidly after the news of Maduro's capture.
- The initial fabricated image was shared very quickly on social media.
- Tools like Google’s SynthID were used to confirm the images as inauthentic.
- Fabrications persisted to circulate and evolve even after the publication of authentic photographs.
- The origin of many fabricated images was linked to social media profiles focused on graphic design.
