A paraglider in the Qilian Mountains of China claimed to have survived after a sudden wind took him to an altitude of 27,800 feet.
Some of the video footage of the incident, however, has been linked to AI, calling into question whether his flight actually happened.
Peng Yujiang, 55, was purportedly doing parachute training Saturday at a height of more than 9,800 feet when an intense wind lifted his glider. Unable to stop the glider from rising, Mr. Peng briefly fell unconscious until the cold temperatures in the air shocked him back awake, according to the Chinese state English-language paper China Daily.
Video footage of Mr. Peng shared by multiple Chinese and international news outlets showed ice covering his gear, body and face. Part of the video, however, also appeared on Facebook in a video shared by user Zhang Qianmin with a Doubao AI watermark in the corner.
In most of the video, the glider has a black helmet coated in frost, is strapped into a pod seat and is surrounded by clouds; the portion that was also shared on Facebook shows his legs dangling, greenery below and a partially white helmet, though the version the news outlets shared did not have the Doubao AI watermark. Several news outlets have since taken down the video, including NBC News, the BBC, the Guardian, and CNN.
Reuters, who shared the video provided by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV with multiple outlets including NBC News, told the latter outlet that “we have reason to believe this is an AI-generated video and are currently working on killing this footage.” Reuters did not say if only part of the video was AI-generated or if all of it was.
SEE ALSO: Media delete Chinese paraglider video due to AI concerns
Mr. Peng told CCTV that “I found myself surrounded by cumulonimbus clouds and trapped inside. It was terrifying — everything around me was white. Without the compass, I wouldn’t have known which direction I was heading. I thought I was flying straight, but in reality, I was spinning. Eventually, I managed to fly out toward the northeast,” according to CNN.
He was eventually able to land at an altitude of around 5,900 feet, according to China Daily.
The Gansu Provincial Aeronautics and Sports Association has grounded Mr. Peng for six months because his flight was not registered beforehand, according to an ExplorersWeb article that has since been deleted. A friend who released a video of the incident also has been grounded.
Editor’s note: The story has been updated to reflect new information casting doubt on the legitimacy of footage from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
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