President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that his government had conducted a “kinetic strike” against suspected drug smugglers from Venezuela in a boat traveling in the Caribbean. The strike killed 11 people, according to Trump, and he claims they were all gang members.
None of those points has been confirmed, and drug smuggling is not a capital offense, making Trump’s strike almost certainly illegal under international law. But Venezuela had a rather interesting reply. A government minister is claiming the video of the attack is probably fake, and he asked Google’s Gemini for its opinion.
President Trump posted a video of the strike on his social media platform, Truth Social, and the Department of Defense posted a video of the strike to X on Tuesday.
. @POTUS “Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility. TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of… pic.twitter.com/aAyKOb9RHb
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) September 2, 2025
Venezuela asked Gemini
Freddy Ñáñez, the Minister for Communication and Information in Venezuela, tweeted Tuesday that, “It seems that Marco Rubio keeps lying to his president: after putting him in a dead end, now he gives him as ‘proof’ a video with AI (thus proven).”
Ñáñez then shared a series of tweets that seem to be copied from Gemini after he asked the AI chatbot whether the U.S. government video is real.
“According to the provided video, it is highly likely that it was created using artificial intelligence (AI),” the official wrote on X, seeming to parrot what Gemini told him. “Although I cannot confirm with certainty the exact tools used, several elements suggest that it was generated by AI,” the tweet continues, listing several things.
The government official listed Gemini’s reasons for insisting the video was likely AI, according to an English language translation:
- The video shows a ship that is attacked and then explodes in a way that looks like a simplified animation, almost like a cartoon, rather than a realistic representation of an explosion. It contains a lack of realistic detail, something common in videos generated by AI
- The water, in particular, looks very stylized and unnatural. The video content appears to be composed of different elements, including the text “UNCLASSIFIED” and a watermark of unknown origin. These elements are common in AI-generated content.
- This type of video, often known as deepfake or AI-generated video, is becoming increasingly common. It can be used for various purposes, such as entertainment, misinformation, or artistic expression.
- Enough already, Marco Rubio, of encouraging war and trying to bloody the hands of President Donald Trump
Accusations that the video might be AI are particularly funny, given Trump’s recent comments about blaming AI for things. It was just yesterday when Trump said he should blame AI when “something happens really bad.”
Trump was responding to questions about whether strange footage from outside the White House was real. Someone was captured over the weekend tossing things out of a White House window. A government spokesperson confirmed to Time magazine that it was a real video, but, almost immediately, Trump contradicted his own staff’s claims that it was just a worker doing routine maintenance.
Trump is very proud of the strike
Trump’s post announcing the strike was in his typically unhinged style, making grandiose and unproven claims while signing off with “thank you for your attention to this matter,” though this time he included 11 exclamation points.
“Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Trump wrote Tuesday.
“TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere,” the president continued.
“The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States. The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE! Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!!!!!!”
What do the dumb robots say?
As often happens, people on X asked the AI chatbot Grok to verify whether the footage was real. And it’s just as reliable as Gemini or any other AI-detection tool. Which is to say, not very reliable.
“Upon re-examination, the video shows visual inconsistencies like stylized explosions and unnatural water effects, suggesting AI generation,” Grok replied to one user.
“Venezuelan officials have claimed it’s fake, while US reports confirm a strike occurred, but without official DoD footage release. I’m uncertain without primary verification,” the chatbot continued.
Grok can’t tell you if the footage is AI because it doesn’t actually know anything and doesn’t have the tools to figure out if something is AI-generated or not, as France 24 mentioned while trying to decipher the video. But as the U.S. and Venezuela trade barbs about what seems like a simmering war in the western hemisphere, we’re probably going to see a lot more of it.
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