🔗 Share this article Exposing Venezuelan Victory Videos and AI-Generated Pictures of Maduro. Synthetic graphics purporting to show Venezuela's president under arrest after his capture by the US have amassed many millions of impressions on social media. The Way Fake Pictures of the President Appeared Soon After The first fabricated synthetic picture apparently displaying him taken off a plane circulated a brief time later. The picture was unpublished by any authoritative American sources; it was instead posted on X by an profile purporting to be an “enthusiast of AI-generated art”. We’ve checked Google’s SynthID, determining the picture was generated or edited with generative AI. Additional synthetic images started circulating in the subsequent hours, purporting to present additional perspectives of Maduro in custody. Noticeable logos on these pictures indicate they originated from an Instagram account called ultravfx. AI analysis says the further pictures were likewise generated or edited generative models. Real Photo Posted but Fakes Persisted The former US president posted the initial authentic image of Nicolás Maduro handcuffed aboard the US Navy ship on Saturday morning. But even after the authentic image was made public, synthetic images persisted online but were modified to show the gray sweatsuit worn by Maduro. Reverse image searches reveal these altered fabrications were initially shared on TikTok by a graphic design account. Similarly, the AI-watermark detector found the new graphics were created or altered generative artificial intelligence. Main Takeaways: Synthetic media spread rapidly after the events of Maduro's capture. The first fake picture appeared on the same day on social media. Tools like AI-watermark detectors were used to confirm the images as inauthentic. Fabrications persisted to spread and evolve even after the release of real images. The origin of several fabricated images was traced to social media profiles dedicated to AI art.