Unmasking Venezuelan Victory Footage and AI-Generated Pictures of Maduro.
Computer-created pictures claiming to portray Nicolás Maduro in custody following his apprehension by the American authorities have garnered many millions of impressions online.
The Way Fake Pictures of the President Emerged Rapidly
Initial inauthentic synthetic picture apparently displaying him being escorted off a aircraft circulated shortly after. The picture was unpublished by any official government accounts; rather, it was posted on the platform X by an account describing itself as an “AI video art enthusiast”.
Our analysis used Google’s SynthID, which found the image was created or altered with Google AI.
Further synthetic pictures began to spread in the subsequent hours, purporting to present additional perspectives of Maduro in custody. Visible logos on these pictures indicate they were posted by an Instagram profile named ultravfx.
SynthID indicates all of these images were also produced using generative models.
Real Photo Posted but Fabrications Persisted
The former US president shared the first real photo of Nicolás Maduro handcuffed aboard the USS Iwo Jima on that morning. But even after the authentic image was released, synthetic pictures continued to spread but were updated to include the grey tracksuit worn by Maduro.
Digital forensics indicate the new fake images were originally uploaded on TikTok by a graphic design profile. Again, SynthID confirms these further images were generated or edited generative artificial intelligence.
Important Facts:
- Deepfakes spread rapidly after the news of Maduro's capture.
- The initial fabricated picture appeared very quickly on platform X.
- Detection software like AI-watermark detectors were used to verify the images as AI-generated.
- Fake images continued to spread and be updated despite the publication of real images.
- The origin of many fabricated images was traced to specific online profiles focused on AI art.
