AI vs reality: How deepfakes are warping story of Maduro’s US capture

In the political landscape, artificial intelligence is being used to build the distorted narratives related to the capture of Venezuelan’s former president Nicolas Maduro.

The proliferation of AI-generated content has flooded social media with viral videos and memes, such as Maduro dancing with Trump or escaping through air ducts.

In one AI-created illustration, Maduro was seen coming to life and considering himself a “prisoner of war.” 

In another video, Maduro tries to escape from prison by crawling through an air vent. Instead of getting out, he lands in a courtroom with Donald Trump. Suddenly, both started to dance together along with a judge and FBI agent.

Disinformation labs

According to Leon Hernandez, a researcher at Andres Bello Catholic University, a surge in AI-generated content has created “disinformation labs”. These labs develop a mix of fake and real content, aiming to foster skepticism and distort the truth in the minds of the public.

“That was the idea: to create confusion and generate skepticism at the base level by distorting certain elements of real things. The goal is for the content to overwhelm audiences so they cannot follow it,” he added.

“AI has become the new instrument of power for autocrats to confuse, combat, and silence dissent," said Elena Block, a professor of political communication and strategy at the University of Queensland in Australia.

Threat to democracy

AI tools have also been utilized for diminishing serious political discourse and reducing it into “trivial” matter.

Block said, “These digital and AI tools end up trivializing politics: you don't explain it, you diminish it," Block said. "AI today is the greatest threat to democracy.”

Moreover, AI is also responsible for reinforcing state-sponsored digital autocracy where the cartoons have been used as a medium of propaganda to reshape the narratives.

Like before Maduro’s capture, he was depicted as a superhero, wearing a Superman-like suit and fighting the monsters.

“With censorship and the disappearance or weakening of news media, social media has emerged as one of the only spaces for information," Block said.

Maduro was captured in US-led military operations in Venezuela on January 3.