Paraglider Peng Yujiang's viral video may not be as terrifying as he claimed; here's how AI may have aided it

Chinese paraglider Peng Yujiang made headlines for surviving a strong cloud vortex and accidentally rising to 8,000 metres. However, a NBC News report has suggested that the terrifying viral video, which may have been generated by artificial intelligence, at least partially.

Peng had no oxygen masks and survived extreme cold and high wind speeds. He suffered frostbite and low oxygen levels but had recorded the entire 72-minute flight.

“It was terrifying... Everything was white. I couldn't see any direction. Without the compass, I wouldn't have known which way I was going. I thought I was flying straight, but in reality, I was spinning,” Peng told the Chinese media.

Was it AI-generated?

According to the initial investigation, the first five seconds of the viral video might be AI-generated. In the viral clip, Peng can be seen gliding at high altitude with his legs dangling, but the footage is reportedly cropped.

NBC News said Peng's video was cropped out to omit Doubao AI's logo, suggesting that the ByteDance-owned company's AI tool likely created at least the first five seconds of the viral video.

The omitted portion of the viral video was uploaded separately to Facebook on May 25 with the company's watermark.

“It's unclear if the remaining footage of Peng gliding through the sky, which differs from the first five seconds, is authentic or not,” the news outlet said.

GetReal Labs, an AI-verification company, corroborated the claims, stating that the analysis of the footage yielded proof of AI use.

“We were able to extract a few frames and analyse them using our Inspect platform, and our models confirm that the images are synthetic,” said GetReal Labs. It also said that several other elements in the video differed from the rest of the footage.

News agency Reuters, which distributed the clip without the AI logo, has since removed the video. Other news outlets have also removed their versions of the video.

“We have reason to believe this is an AI-generated video and are currently working on killing this footage,” Reuters said.

Peng gets banned from flying

The Chinese paraglider has now been banned from flying for six months.

Authorities in Gansu punished him for not submitting a flight plan and banned his companion, Gu Zhimin, for sharing the video online without permission.

Peng Yujiang’s flight was not officially approved. He, nevertheless, claimed he was doing ground paragliding training when strong winds lifted him up.

The Gansu Aero Sports Association called it an accident, not illegal flying. Still, according to Sixth Tone, it suspended him from flying for six months.