The government of Nicolás Maduro uses Artificial Intelligence to make fake news about the Venezuelan economy. It was the Twitter profile Cazadores de Fake News (Fake News Hunters) who uncovered that the Venezuelan government was using deepfakes of a commentator who spoke perfect English but did not exist:
It all started with a video on YouTube that appeared while the Caribbean Series was being played in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, as reported by El Nacional. In that video, a commentator spoke of some alleged successes of the Maduro regime and the supposed "economic recovery of Venezuela." This raised suspicions from the Cazadores de Fake News, which began to investigate. They ultimately revealed that the videos were fake and had been made using the Sythesia Artificial Intelligence program.
❗ Manipulación con uso de IA:
Es un avatar creado con Inteligencia Artificial quien habla sobre el supuesto éxito de la Serie del Caribe,
NO un medio de comunicación norteamericano.
Resumimos #LoQueSabemos sobre el reciente uso de IA en la propaganda venezolana
Hilo 1/7🧵 pic.twitter.com/QO4FWXkL2b
— Cazadores de Fake News (@cazamosfakenews) February 15, 2023
How was the research conducted?
It was not the content itself that caught the attention of the organization, but the commentator. He spoke English, but at no time was he introduced or identified. Curious, they set out to verify this information. To do so, they conducted a search of the presenter's face with PimEyes and found "dozens of almost identical photos."
They discovered that the face had been created artificially using the Synthesia program, which is a platform that is used to "create videos that simulate people talking using Artificial Intelligence," according to El Colombiano.
However, it took some time to verify this information. El Colombiano reported that the first fake video was released on TikTok and, amazingly enough, reached official media platforms: "Another video taken from the same YouTube channel, with a different presenter but created with the same software, was broadcasted on VTV as if it were a real American newscast."
Fortunately, Cazadores de Fake News was able to demonstrate that there is "very concrete evidence that behind this and other YouTube channels is the same group of people driving a long-running operation."
