Debunking Venezuela Celebration Footage and AI-Generated Pictures of Nicolás Maduro.
Synthetic graphics claiming to show Venezuela's president in custody after his capture by the US have garnered countless of views on social media.
The Way AI Images of the President Appeared Within Hours
The first inauthentic AI image seemingly displaying him led off a aircraft circulated a brief time later. The picture was not shared any authoritative US channels; rather, it was uploaded on X by an account describing itself as an “AI video art enthusiast”.
We’ve checked Google’s SynthID, which found the image was generated or edited with AI tools.
More AI-generated pictures started circulating in the subsequent period, seemingly depicting more angles of the leader detained. Noticeable identifying marks on these images show they came from an Instagram profile named ultravfx.
SynthID confirms these additional images were also generated or edited Google AI.
Real Photo Released but Fabrications Persisted
The former US president posted the first real photo of Nicolás Maduro restrained aboard the US Navy ship on that morning. But even after the authentic image was made public, synthetic images continued to spread but were modified to include the grey athletic wear worn by Maduro.
Reverse image searches indicate these altered fabrications were initially shared on the video platform by a digital art profile. Once again, SynthID found these subsequent pictures were produced with Google AI.
Important Facts:
- Deepfakes circulated quickly after the announcement of Maduro's capture.
- The first fake picture appeared on the same day on social media.
- Detection software like Google’s SynthID helped to identify the images as AI-generated.
- Fabrications persisted to spread and evolve even after the publication of authentic photographs.
- The source of several fabricated images was linked to social media profiles dedicated to AI art.
