🔗 Share this article Debunking Venezuela Celebration Footage and AI-Generated Pictures of Maduro. Synthetic pictures purporting to depict Venezuela's president under arrest following his apprehension by the American authorities have garnered tens of millions of views across the internet. How AI Images of Maduro Surfaced Within Hours Initial fake synthetic picture seemingly showing him led off a aircraft surfaced within hours. The graphic was unpublished by any authoritative American sources; it was instead posted on the platform X by an profile describing itself as an “enthusiast of AI-generated art”. We’ve checked the SynthID tool, confirming the picture was generated or edited with generative AI. Additional synthetic images started circulating in the subsequent period, purporting to present different views of the leader detained. Visible logos on these pictures reveal they came from an Instagram profile named ultravfx. SynthID confirms these additional images were likewise produced using AI technology. Authentic Image Posted but Fabrications Persisted The former US president shared the first real photo of Maduro in handcuffs aboard the US Navy ship on Saturday morning. But even after the authentic image was made public, AI-generated images continued to spread but were updated to show the grey athletic wear seen on Maduro. Digital forensics show the new fake images were first posted on the video platform by a digital art account. Again, SynthID confirms the new graphics were created or altered AI tools. Key Points: Synthetic media spread rapidly following the events of the president's apprehension. The first fake picture appeared on the same day on social media. Detection software like AI-watermark detectors helped to confirm the images as synthetic. Fabrications persisted to circulate and be updated even after the publication of real images. The source of several fakes was traced to specific online profiles focused on graphic design.