There’s Something Off About That Chinese Paraglider Video

Major news organizations are pulling the viral video of a Chinese paraglider who allegedly flew to the height of Mount Everest after accusations at least part of it is AI-generated.

Reuters, which distributed the video, reports that the first five seconds of Peng Yuijiang’s video likely contains AI-generated images. Yuijiang was apparently lifted to a remarkable altitude of 28,000 feet (8,500 meters) in the Qilian Mountains of northwest China during a routine equipment check.

But a California-based digital security firm called GetReal has pointed out some inconsistencies between the start of the video and the rest of it. At the beginning, the 360-degree camera zooms out and shows Yuijiang wearing a white helmet with his legs dangling. But in the rest of the video, he is wearing a black helmet and has an insulating cocoon around his legs.

The mystery remains, however, since expert paragliders say it is possible that Yuijiang flew to 28,000 feet, especially since he posted his flight log to a paraglider website called XContest which contains GPS data that is “tamper-proof.”

However, some experts tell Reuters that the flight was not an accident as Yuijiang claims since he was wearing specialized heavy mittens.

“Storm clouds don’t just appear above your head and hoover you into space. They build over a period of time,” says Daniel Wainwright, a flight instructor in Australia. “He shouldn’t have been flying.”

The mittens point to Yuijiang being ready for the flight as they are not usual items to carry. One paragliding expert tells Reuters that he thinks Yuijiang made up the accidental take-off story so he wouldn’t be sanctioned for entering restricted air space.

As for the alleged AI-generated clip at the start, nobody has a definitive answer at this stage except it’s extremely suspicious. Chinese state-run broadcaster CCTV, which provided the video to Reuters, refused to comment on it. Yuijiang is also not available for comment.

PetaPixel ran the story along with other major news outlets including the BBC and The New York Times. NBC also pulled the story, stating that it has “determined that some of the footage provided by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV and distributed by Reuters that appeared in our initial coverage was AI-generated. We have removed this video and are continuing to report on the veracity of the story.”