Exposing Venezuela Victory Videos and AI-Generated Pictures of Nicolás Maduro.
Computer-created pictures claiming to show Venezuela's president in custody following his capture by the US have garnered many millions of views on social media.
How AI Images of Maduro Surfaced Soon After
The first inauthentic AI image seemingly showing him taken off a aircraft emerged a brief time later. This image was unpublished by any verified US channels; it was instead uploaded on X by an account purporting to be an “enthusiast of AI-generated art”.
We’ve checked the SynthID tool, which found the image was produced or modified with generative AI.
Additional synthetic pictures started circulating in the following hours, appearing to show different views of the leader in custody. Noticeable identifying marks on these pictures show they originated from an Instagram profile named ultravfx.
AI analysis says all of these images were also generated or edited generative models.
Real Photo Released but Fakes Persisted
Donald Trump shared the genuine photograph of Maduro handcuffed aboard the US Navy ship on that morning. Yet following this real photo was published, synthetic images kept circulating but were modified to include the grey tracksuit seen on Maduro.
Digital forensics reveal the new fake images were first posted on the video platform by a graphic design profile. Similarly, analysis found these further images were generated or edited Google AI.
Important Facts:
- AI-generated content circulated quickly after the announcement of the president's apprehension.
- The initial fabricated image was shared on the same day on platform X.
- Detection software like Google’s SynthID were used to verify the pictures as AI-generated.
- Fabrications continued to spread and evolve despite the publication of real images.
- The origin of many fakes was traced to social media profiles focused on graphic design.
