President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that his government had “moving attacks” against alleged drug smuggling from Venezuela on a boat traveling through the Caribbean. According to Trump, the strike killed 11 people, and he claims they are all members of the gang.
None of these points have been identified, and drug smuggling is not a capital crime and makes Trump's strike almost certainly illegal under international law. However, Venezuela received a rather interesting response. The government minister claims that the video of the attack is probably fake, and he asked Google's Gemini for his opinion.
President Trump posted a strike video on his social media platform Truth Social, and the Department of Defense posted a strike video on X on Tuesday.
. @potus “This morning, on my order, the US military launched a campaign attack on Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists who were actively identified against Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the responsible Southcom area. The TDA said… pic.twitter.com/aaykob9rhb
– DOD Rapid Response (@dodresponse) September 2, 2025
Venezuela asked Gemini
Venezuelan Minister of Communications and Information Freddie Unies tweeted Tuesday.Marco Rubio appears to be lying to the President: After putting him to a dead end, he gives him a video with the AI as “proof” (and thus proven). ”
After that, ñáñez shared a series of tweets that appear to have been copied from Gemini after asking the AI chatbot if the US government video was real.
“According to the video provided, it is likely that it was created using artificial intelligence (AI),” officials write to X, appearing to parrot what Gemini told him. “We can't make sure to see exactly what tools are used, but it suggests that some elements were generated by AI,” the tweet continues, listing some things.
Officials said that the English translation suggests that Gemini's reason for claiming the video is likely to be AI.
- This video shows the ship attacked, and explodes in a way that looks like a simplified animation, like a cartoon. Common in AI-generated videos do not contain realistic details
- In particular, the water looks very stylized and unnatural. Video content appears to be made up of a variety of elements, including “unclassified” text and watermarks of unknown origins. These elements are common in AI-generated content.
- This type of video, often known as Deepfake or AI-generated videos, is becoming more and more common. It can be used for a variety of purposes, including entertainment, misinformation, artistic expressions and more.
- Already, Marco Rubio is trying to encourage war and put the hands of President Donald Trump in blood
Given Trump's recent comments about AI criticizing AI, the accusations that the video could be AI are particularly interesting. It was just yesterday that Trump said he should blame AI when “something really bad happens.”
Trump was answering questions about whether the strange footage from outside the White House was real. Someone was caught throwing things through the White House window over the weekend. A government spokesman confirmed to Time Magazine that it was a real video, but almost immediately Trump contradicted his own staff's claim that it was merely a worker.
Trump is extremely proud of his strike
Trump's post announcing the strike was his typical hingeless style, making grand and unproven claims while signing off, “Thank you for paying attention to this issue,” but this time we included 11 exclamation points.
“This morning, at my order, the US military launched a campaign attack against Tren Aragua Narcoterrorists who were actively identified in the responsible Southcom area,” Trump wrote Tuesday.
“TDA is a designated foreign terrorist organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro and is responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and violence and fear in the US and the Western Hemisphere,” the president continued.
“The strike occurred when terrorists were transporting illegal drugs and were in the ocean in international waters heading to the US. The strike was killed in action with 11 terrorists.
What do you say about stupid robots?
As often happens, people from X asked the AI chatbot Grok to check if the footage was real. And it's just as reliable as Gemini and other AI detection tools. That means it's not very reliable.
“On review, the video shows visual inconsistencies such as stylized explosions and unnatural water effects, suggesting an AI generation,” Grok responded to one user.
“Venezuelan officials claim it is a fake, but US reports have confirmed that a strike has occurred, not without the release of official Dodd footage. I am uncertain without major verification,” the chatbot continued.
As Grok mentioned while trying to decipher the video, he doesn't know anything in practice and doesn't have the tools to figure out whether something is being generated or not, so he doesn't know if the footage is AI or not. But we will probably see more as the US and Venezuela trade barbs for what looks like a war boiling in the Western Hemisphere.
