Unmasking Venezuela Victory Videos and AI Images of Maduro.

Synthetic images claiming to depict Venezuela's president under arrest following his capture by the American authorities have amassed tens of millions of impressions across the internet.

The Way AI Images of Maduro Emerged Within Hours

The first fake synthetic picture seemingly showing him being escorted off a plane circulated within hours. The picture was unpublished by any verified government accounts; it was instead posted on X by an account purporting to be an “enthusiast of AI-generated art”.

Verification involved an AI-watermark detector, determining the picture was produced or modified with Google AI.

Further AI-generated pictures were disseminated in the following hours, seemingly depicting different views of the leader under guard. Visible watermarks on these pictures reveal they came from an Instagram account named ultravfx.

The detection tool indicates the further pictures were likewise created or altered generative models.

Real Photo Released but Fakes Continued

Donald Trump posted the first real photo of Maduro handcuffed aboard the USS Iwo Jima on that morning. However, despite this confirmation was made public, AI-generated images kept circulating but were modified to include the gray sweatsuit worn by Maduro.

Reverse image searches indicate these updated fakes were initially shared on TikTok by a graphic design account. Similarly, SynthID found these further images were created or altered generative artificial intelligence.

Key Points:

• Deepfakes circulated quickly after the events of Maduro's capture.
• The initial fabricated picture was shared very quickly on platform X.
• Tools like Google’s SynthID helped to verify the pictures as synthetic.
• Fake images continued to spread and evolve despite the release of real photographs.
• The origin of several fabricated images was traced to specific online profiles focused on graphic design.