Unmasking Venezuelan Celebration Footage and AI Images of Nicolás Maduro.

AI-generated pictures purporting to portray Venezuela's president detained following his capture by the United States have amassed many millions of impressions online.

How Fake Pictures of the President Surfaced Within Hours

Initial inauthentic synthetic picture apparently showing him being escorted off a aircraft surfaced a brief time later. This image was unpublished by any verified American sources; rather, it was posted on X by an profile describing itself as an “enthusiast of AI-generated art”.

Verification involved an AI-watermark detector, determining the picture was generated or edited with AI tools.

More AI-generated pictures were disseminated in the subsequent period, appearing to show different views of the leader in custody. Noticeable watermarks on these images show they were posted by an Instagram profile called ultravfx.

AI analysis says the further pictures were similarly produced using generative models.

Authentic Image Released but Fakes Persisted

The former US president posted the genuine photograph of Nicolás Maduro in handcuffs aboard the USS Iwo Jima on Saturday morning. Yet following this confirmation was made public, synthetic images persisted online but were modified to show the gray sweatsuit worn by Maduro.

Reverse image searches indicate these updated fakes were initially shared on TikTok by a digital art profile. Similarly, the AI-watermark detector found these further images were produced with generative artificial intelligence.

Key Points:

• AI-generated content circulated quickly after the announcement of the president's apprehension.
• The first fake image appeared within hours on social media.
• Tools like Google’s SynthID were used to verify the images as AI-generated.
• Fabrications persisted to spread and be updated despite the publication of authentic photographs.
• The origin of many fakes was traced to social media accounts focused on AI art.