🔗 Share this article Exposing Venezuela Victory Footage and AI-Generated Pictures of Maduro. Computer-created pictures purporting to portray Venezuela's president under arrest following his capture by the American authorities have amassed many millions of impressions online. How Fake Pictures of the President Emerged Rapidly The first fake synthetic picture seemingly showing him being escorted off a aircraft emerged within hours. The graphic was absent from any official government accounts; rather, it was published on X by an account purporting to be an “AI video art enthusiast”. Our analysis used Google’s SynthID, which found the image was created or altered with AI tools. Further synthetic pictures were disseminated in the following hours, seemingly depicting more angles of Maduro detained. Noticeable identifying marks on the graphics show they were posted by an Instagram profile named ultravfx. AI analysis says these additional images were also generated or edited Google AI. Real Photo Posted but Fabrications Continued The former US president released the first real photo of Nicolás Maduro handcuffed aboard the US Navy ship on Saturday morning. But even after the authentic image was made public, AI-generated images kept circulating but were modified to include the grey athletic wear seen on Maduro. Online investigation indicate these updated fakes were initially shared on TikTok by a graphic design account. Again, SynthID says these further images were produced with generative artificial intelligence. Main Takeaways: Deepfakes gained traction following the announcement of the president's apprehension. The initial fabricated picture appeared within hours on platform X. Detection software like Google’s SynthID were used to identify the pictures as AI-generated. Fabrications continued to circulate and evolve despite the publication of real photographs. The origin of several fakes was traced to specific online profiles dedicated to AI art.