Allegations of AI Use as a New Weapon in Geopolitical Conflict

Early September saw a major development in the increasingly protracted conflict between the US and Venezuela, a campaign undertaken by the US in the name of combating "narco-terrorists" operating in and around the state. Part of the early campaign involved the release of declassified footage of a boat being destroyed by what is theorized to be a AGM-114 Hellfire Missile, possibly launched from a helicopter. The boat was alleged to have carried 11 members of the Tren de Aragua gang.

An Alarming Suggestion

While the Trump administration celebrated the strike as a suitable first step in the war against recently dubbed foreign terrorist organizations, a member of the Maduro government rebutted with an alarming suggestion: that the video was fabricated using AI. Of this claim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: "I can tell you that was definitely not artificial intelligence… I watched it live" (NBC, Sept. 3, 2025). Whether AI was used in a "false flag" capacity or merely for deflection is not of the greatest concern — rather, the fact that two high-ranking members of government floated the suggestion is.

This isn't the first time AI is alleged to have been used in a political capacity. Take the so-called "Slovak case," in which SMER (Social Democratic) party candidate Robert Fico reclaimed the prime ministership in an election fraught with legitimacy concerns. Among these concerns was the influence of deepfakes and their contribution to public skepticism during a time of already-low public trust in government institutions. The key distinction between the two cases is who made the allegations — the Slovak case involved suspected third-party disinformation campaigns by Russia, while the “boat video” controversy features direct accusations exchanged between the US and Venezuelan governments.

Likely Not the Last Time

The implications extend beyond this single incident. While the US could certainly produce authentic military footage without AI, the emergence of AI allegations as a tool of statecraft poses deeper risks. Public trust in state-released media erodes when such accusations become commonplace, and diplomatic discourse suffers when leaders can dismiss inconvenient evidence by invoking artificial intelligence — particularly when citizens lack the technical knowledge to evaluate these competing claims.