Unmasking Venezuelan Victory Videos and AI-Generated Pictures of Nicolás Maduro.
Synthetic graphics purporting to portray Nicolás Maduro detained after his capture by the American authorities have amassed many millions of views across the internet.
How Fake Pictures of the President Surfaced Soon After
The first inauthentic synthetic picture apparently displaying him led off a plane surfaced shortly after. The picture was absent from any authoritative American sources; rather, it was published on X by an account purporting to be an “enthusiast of AI-generated art”.
We’ve checked Google’s SynthID, determining the picture was generated or edited with AI tools.
More synthetic pictures were disseminated in the subsequent hours, purporting to present additional perspectives of Maduro detained. Visible watermarks on these pictures reveal they originated from an Instagram account named ultravfx.
The detection tool confirms all of these images were also created or altered Google AI.
Real Photo Released but Fakes Persisted
Donald Trump posted the first real photo of Maduro handcuffed aboard the US Navy ship on Saturday morning. Yet following this real photo was published, synthetic images kept circulating but were modified to include the gray sweatsuit seen on Maduro.
Online investigation reveal the new fake images were first posted on the video platform by a graphic design account. Once again, the AI-watermark detector found these subsequent pictures were produced with Google AI.
Main Takeaways:
- Deepfakes spread rapidly after the news of the president's apprehension.
- The first fake image was shared very quickly on platform X.
- Detection software like AI-watermark detectors were used to confirm the pictures as inauthentic.
- Fake images persisted to spread and evolve even after the release of real images.
- The source of many fabricated images was linked to specific online profiles focused on graphic design.
