🔗 Share this article

Synthetic images purporting to portray Venezuela's president under arrest after his apprehension by the US have gained many millions of impressions on social media.

How Fake Pictures of Maduro Emerged Soon After

Initial fabricated AI image seemingly showing him taken off a aircraft emerged shortly after. This image was not shared any authoritative American sources; rather, it was uploaded on X by an account describing itself as an “enthusiast of AI-generated art”.

We’ve checked an AI-watermark detector, determining the image was generated or edited with AI tools.

Further AI-generated pictures began to spread in the ensuing hours, appearing to show different views of Maduro in custody. Noticeable logos on these images reveal they came from an Instagram account called ultravfx.

The detection tool says these additional pictures were also created or altered generative models.

Authentic Image Posted but Fabrications Persisted

Donald Trump released the genuine photograph of Nicolás Maduro handcuffed aboard the US Navy ship on Saturday morning. Yet following this confirmation was made public, synthetic pictures persisted online but were altered to incorporate the gray sweatsuit worn by Maduro.

Online investigation show these updated fakes were originally uploaded on the video platform by a digital art account. Once again, the AI-watermark detector says these subsequent pictures were created or altered Google AI.

Main Takeaways:

• AI-generated content circulated quickly after the announcement of the president's apprehension.
• The initial fabricated picture appeared on the same day on social media.
• Tools like Google’s SynthID helped to verify the images as synthetic.
• Fabrications continued to circulate and be updated even after the release of authentic photographs.
• The origin of several fabricated images was traced to specific online profiles focused on AI art.