Exposing Venezuelan Celebration Footage and AI-Generated Pictures of Maduro.
Synthetic images claiming to show Venezuela's president detained after his capture by the American authorities have gained tens of millions of impressions on social media.
The Way AI Images of the President Appeared Soon After
The first fabricated synthetic picture seemingly showing him taken off a plane emerged shortly after. The graphic was absent from any official US channels; rather, it was published on X by an profile purporting to be an “AI video art enthusiast”.
We’ve checked Google’s SynthID, determining the image was created or altered with Google AI.
Additional AI-generated visuals started circulating in the ensuing period, purporting to present additional perspectives of the leader under guard. Visible logos on these images indicate they originated from an Instagram profile named ultravfx.
The detection tool confirms all of these images were likewise produced using generative models.
Authentic Image Released but Fabrications Persisted
The former US president shared the initial authentic image of Maduro restrained aboard the US Navy ship on that morning. However, despite this real photo was made public, AI-generated images persisted online but were altered to include the grey athletic wear worn by Maduro.
Digital forensics indicate these updated fakes were initially shared on TikTok by a digital art account. Again, SynthID confirms these further images were created or altered generative artificial intelligence.
Main Takeaways:
- AI-generated content circulated quickly after the news of the president's apprehension.
- The first fake image was shared on the same day on social media.
- Tools like AI-watermark detectors helped to verify the pictures as synthetic.
- Fake images persisted to spread and be updated despite the release of real images.
- The source of several fakes was linked to social media profiles dedicated to graphic design.
