(NewsNation) — A Venezuelan government official has disputed the validity of a video of a U.S. strike against an alleged drug-carrying boat near Venezuela.
Freddy Ñáñez, Venezuela’s minister of communications and information, claimed on social media that “several elements” in the video shared by President Donald Trump suggested it was generated by artificial intelligence.
Included in the post was a conversation Ñáñez allegedly had with Google’s AI Chatbot, Gemini, in which Ñáñez questions the validity of the video.
“Based on the provided video, it’s highly likely it was created using artificial intelligence,” Gemini appears to have determined.
“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,” Ñáñez said in another post.
On Tuesday, Trump announced the strike resulted in the deaths of 11 “narcoterrorists” in a post on Truth Social.
“U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Trump said.
The Trump administration has continued to target the flow of narcotics into the United States from Latin American nations.
U.S. defense officials confirmed to NewsNation that seven warships, a nuclear-powered submarine and thousands of Marines have been deployed to the Caribbean waters near Venezuela.
Trump has repeatedly claimed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is involved in and has direct ties to gang activity in his country.
“Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!” Trump concluded.