🔗 Share this article Exposing Venezuela Celebration Videos and AI Images of Nicolás Maduro. Synthetic images claiming to portray Nicolás Maduro in custody after his apprehension by the United States have amassed countless of impressions online. How Fake Pictures of Maduro Emerged Soon After The first fabricated synthetic picture seemingly displaying him led off a aircraft surfaced shortly after. The picture was unpublished by any verified American sources; it was instead posted on X by an profile purporting to be an “AI video art enthusiast”. We’ve checked the SynthID tool, which found the picture was created or altered with AI tools. More AI-generated visuals started circulating in the following hours, appearing to show more angles of the leader under guard. Visible watermarks on these images reveal they came from an Instagram profile called ultravfx. The detection tool confirms the further pictures were also produced using generative models. Real Photo Released but Fakes Continued Donald Trump posted the genuine photograph of Nicolás Maduro handcuffed aboard the US Navy ship on that morning. But even after this real photo was made public, synthetic pictures persisted online but were modified to include the gray sweatsuit seen on Maduro. Online investigation indicate the new fake images were originally uploaded on TikTok by a graphic design account. Similarly, the AI-watermark detector says these further images were created or altered AI tools. Important Facts: AI-generated content spread rapidly following the announcement of Maduro's capture. The first fake image was shared within hours on platform X. Tools like Google’s SynthID were used to verify the images as AI-generated. Fake images persisted to circulate and be updated even after the release of real photographs. The origin of many fakes was linked to specific online profiles focused on AI art.