Debunking Venezuela Celebration Footage and AI Images of Maduro.
Synthetic images purporting to show Venezuela's president detained after his capture by the American authorities have garnered tens of millions of impressions online.
The Way Fake Pictures of Maduro Appeared Within Hours
Initial fabricated synthetic picture seemingly displaying him taken off a aircraft emerged within hours. The picture was unpublished by any official government accounts; it was instead posted on the platform X by an profile describing itself as an “AI video art enthusiast”.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 synthetic visuals began to spread in the ensuing hours, purporting to present additional perspectives of the leader detained. Noticeable watermarks on these images reveal they originated from an Instagram account named ultravfx.
AI analysis says the further images were also produced using generative models.
Real Photo Released but Fabrications Continued
The former US president released the first real photo of Maduro in handcuffs aboard the USS Iwo Jima on Saturday morning. But even after this confirmation was released, AI-generated images persisted online but were modified to include the grey athletic wear seen on Maduro.
Online investigation reveal the new fake images were initially shared on TikTok by a graphic design profile. Once again, SynthID found the new graphics were produced with Google AI.
Main Takeaways:
- Deepfakes spread rapidly after the news of Maduro's capture.
- The initial fabricated image appeared within hours on social media.
- Tools like AI-watermark detectors were used to confirm the images as AI-generated.
- Fabrications persisted to circulate and be updated despite the release of real images.
- The origin of several fabricated images was traced to specific online accounts focused on AI art.
