🔗 Share this article Debunking Venezuelan Victory Videos and AI-Generated Pictures of Nicolás Maduro. Computer-created images purporting to show Venezuela's president detained following his apprehension by the US have garnered many millions of views online. How AI Images of Maduro Emerged Rapidly The first inauthentic synthetic picture apparently showing him being escorted off a aircraft emerged within hours. This image was unpublished by any official government accounts; it was instead published on the platform X by an account purporting to be an “AI video art enthusiast”. We’ve checked an AI-watermark detector, which found the image was generated or edited with AI tools. More AI-generated pictures were disseminated in the following hours, purporting to present more angles of the leader under guard. Visible identifying marks on these images reveal they came from an Instagram profile named ultravfx. SynthID indicates all of these images were likewise created or altered Google AI. Authentic Image Posted but Fabrications Persisted The former US president posted the genuine photograph of Maduro restrained aboard the US Navy ship on Saturday morning. But even after this real photo was published, AI-generated images kept circulating but were modified to show the grey tracksuit worn by Maduro. Digital forensics show the new fake images were first posted on the video platform by a digital art profile. Once again, SynthID says the new graphics were generated or edited AI tools. Main Takeaways: AI-generated content gained traction after the news of the president's apprehension. The initial fabricated picture was shared on the same day on social media. Detection software like AI-watermark detectors were used to confirm the pictures as AI-generated. Fabrications persisted to circulate and evolve even after the publication of authentic images. The source of many fakes was linked to social media accounts dedicated to graphic design.