Debunking Venezuela Victory Footage and AI-Generated Pictures of Nicolás Maduro.
AI-generated pictures claiming to show Nicolás Maduro detained after his capture by the United States have amassed countless of impressions across the internet.
How Fake Pictures of Maduro Emerged Soon After
Initial inauthentic AI image apparently displaying him being escorted off a aircraft surfaced a brief time later. The graphic was unpublished by any verified US channels; it was instead posted on X by an account describing itself as an “enthusiast of AI-generated art”.
Our analysis used Google’s SynthID, confirming the picture was created or altered with Google AI.
Further AI-generated pictures began to spread in the ensuing hours, purporting to present more angles of the leader in custody. Visible identifying marks on these pictures reveal they came from an Instagram profile called ultravfx.
SynthID confirms all of these pictures were also produced using generative models.
Real Photo Posted but Fakes Persisted
Donald Trump released the first real photo of Maduro handcuffed aboard the USS Iwo Jima on Saturday morning. However, despite this confirmation was published, synthetic images persisted online but were altered to show the gray sweatsuit worn by Maduro.
Online investigation show these updated fakes were originally uploaded on TikTok by a digital art account. Once again, the AI-watermark detector confirms these further images were created or altered Google AI.
Main Takeaways:
- Deepfakes spread rapidly following the news of the president's apprehension.
- The initial fabricated image was shared on the same day on platform X.
- Tools like AI-watermark detectors were used to verify the images as inauthentic.
- Fake images continued to circulate and evolve even after the publication of real photographs.
- The source of several fabricated images was traced to specific online profiles focused on AI art.
