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Global News
04-06-2025
- Climate
- Global News
Viral video of Chinese paraglider likely includes faked AI footage
A California-based digital security firm says it is 'fairly confident' that viral footage of a paraglider who claims to have been sucked into a storm in China is not entirely authentic. Peng Yujiang, 55, says he began an accidental flight while testing newly purchased paragliding equipment in the Qilian Mountains in northern China and that a camera mounted on his glider captured the entire ordeal, which supposedly saw him reach heights of 27,800 feet. An investigation by Reuters suggests that the first five seconds of Yujiang's film contain 'fake footage,' likely generated by artificial intelligence, bringing the legitimacy of his story into question. Reuters has since removed the video from its platforms. 'This content is clearly labeled as third-party content and is not verified or endorsed by Reuters,' it said in a statement. Story continues below advertisement 'When we became aware of a piece of content that likely contained AI-generated elements on the Reuters Connect platform, we investigated and took it down because the material does not comply with our partner content policy,' it continued. Global News, the BBC, The Associated Press and the New York Times — along with other outlets — shared the likely doctored video last week. The investigation, undertaken by GetReal Security — a company that calls itself the world's leading authority on the authentication and verification of digital media — noted several inconsistencies in Yujiang's video, namely that his helmet is black at the start of the video and changes to white, and that his legs are in a protective cocoon at the start and dangling at the end. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Other inconsistencies given by Reuters include: It's in a video format that differs from the other videos in the compilation What appears to be the full AI video was uploaded to Facebook with a Doubao AI watermark indicating their tool was used to create it The sound may have been extended from the other videos in the compilation to make it appear coherent The 'Apollo 2' text (the paraglider model visible in the other videos) is not legible in the manipulated one. The letters are scrambled, even if some of the newer models can sometimes deliver text, it's still a common weakness in AI-generated content Peng's legs look unnaturally long and distorted The green ground seen in the AI version does not match satellite imagery of the snowy terrain of the Qilian Mountains While GPS data posted by Yujiang on the website XContest, a popular forum in the paragliding community, suggests the flight did occur, it was later deleted, according to Jakub Havel, a Czech paraglider who helps run the forum. Other flight data shared by Yujiang remains on the site. Story continues below advertisement Paragliding experts have raised doubts over Yujiang's claim that his ascent was accidental, arguing that it is unlikely because of the 'specialized heavy mittens' he can be seen wearing in the video, an item not typically used during a test flight. 'These are not things you would normally wear or have ready if you were just ground-handling to test a wing,' Brad Harris, president of the Tasmanian Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, told Reuters. Given that parts of the footage are probably AI-generated, it is not certain if Yujiang was actually using the specialized hand-warming equipment shown in the footage. Godfrey Wenness, a former paragliding distance world record holder, said a highly experienced paraglider could have managed to reverse the ascent shown in Yujiang's flight data, and that Yujiang was either 'inexperienced' or continuing to climb on purpose. Meanwhile, Daniel Wainwright, a flight instructor in Australia, told Reuters that storm clouds like the one Yujiang flew in 'don't just appear above your head and hoover you into space. They build over a period of time. He shouldn't have been flying.' In a report published on Wednesday, the Gansu Aeronautical Sports Association said Yujiang had broken an altitude record. The private group that oversees air sports in the province did not respond to Reuters' request for comment and deleted its report on Yujiang's flight from its WeChat account. Story continues below advertisement By Thursday, the association's website was blocked. It also suspended Yujiang from flying for six months. A member of his flight team was suspended for six months for releasing the video without authorization. — With files from Reuters
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Chinese paraglider's death-defying thundercloud video may partly be fake
A viral video of a Chinese paraglider claiming he was swept up into a thundercloud and dragged 8km into the sky could partly be fake. Peng Yujiang, 55, a certified B-level paraglider, claimed in the video that he had a narrow escape after reaching an altitude of 8,598m without oxygen. The video was aired across China and distributed internationally by state broadcaster CCTV, and it quickly went viral. The video supposedly showed a sudden surge of wind pulling up and trapping Mr Peng into a rapidly forming cumulonimbus cloud, leaving him to face icy conditions with his face exposed and without oxygen. The paraglider said that he suspected he briefly lost consciousness during his eventual descent. But experts who examined the video, first shared on Douyin, China's TikTok, on 24 May, said it likely employed artificial intelligence to fake some of the footage, Reuters reported. The first five seconds of Mr Peng's video contained images generated by AI, American digital security firm GetReal said, adding that it was 'fairly confident' about its findings. GetReal as well as other paragliders noted that the video showed Mr Peng's legs initially dangling without the insulating cocoon shown later. In another concrete inconsistency, the paraglider's helmet appeared white and then black. 'Nobody intentionally lets themselves be sucked into a thunderstorm cloud in an attempt to break a record, it is something that any sane paragliding pilot tries to avoid at all costs," said Jakub Havel, a Czech paraglider who runs XContest, a popular website for paragliders. Mr Peng's flight should not be considered a record, he said, pointing out that the Chinese paraglider had recorded and then deleted his flight log on XContest while his other flights remained on the site. At least four paragliders interviewed by Reuters challenged Mr Peng's claim that the flight had been an unavoidable accident. The experts, however, said it was possible that the paraglider actually went up to an altitude of 8,589m and survived. Pilots said there were reasons to question Mr Peng's flight as a fluke accident, saying he was either trying to make an unauthorised high ascent or should have seen the risk. Storm clouds like the one Mr Peng flew in 'don't just appear above your head and hoover you into space' and 'build over a period of time", Daniel Wainwright, a flight instructor in Australia, told Reuters. 'He shouldn't have been flying.' The record for a planned flight is held by French pilot Antoine Girard, who flew at an altitude of 8,407m over a stretch of the Himalayas in 2021. Brad Harris, president of the Tasmanian Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, said the specialised heavy mittens shown in the video seemed to undercut Peng's claim he had not intended to take off. He believed Mr Peng could have made up the accidental take-off to avoid sanction for entering restricted airspace.
Economic Times
30-05-2025
- Climate
- Economic Times
Is it a plane or a satellite? No, it's a Chinese paraglider at 8000 m above earth, frozen with no oxygen and still surviving
TIL Creatives Chinese paraglider at 8000 m above earth Peng Yujiang, a seasoned Chinese paraglider, on May 24, 2025, found himself at the center of a harrowing and extraordinary survival story—one that has captivated China's adventure sports community and drawn comparisons to some of the most extreme feats in paragliding history. Peng, who has been paragliding since at least 2021 according to his WeChat posts, launched from the Qilian Mountains in northwestern China, a region known for its government-backed paragliding base and as host of the Coupe Icare China. What was intended as a routine ground-based training session quickly turned perilous. About 20 minutes after takeoff, Peng was caught in a rare and dangerous meteorological phenomenon known as 'cloud suck'—a powerful updraft within a cumulonimbus cloud that can rapidly pull gliders thousands of meters upward. Data from Peng's GPS tracker, later shared on social media, revealed he was lifted to a staggering altitude of 8,598 meters (28,200 feet)—just shy of the cruising altitude of commercial jetliners and perilously close to the world record for unassisted paragliding altitude. The ascent rate peaked at 9.7 meters per second (35 km/h), and temperatures plummeted to minus 40 degrees Celsius. Footage from Peng's own camera shows him coated in ice, without supplemental oxygen, struggling to communicate via radio as his hands such altitudes, oxygen levels are dangerously low and the risk of hypoxia, frostbite, and unconsciousness is extreme. Remarkably, Peng managed to stay conscious and maintain control for over an hour, eventually landing safely 33 kilometers from his launch site. 'I felt the lack of oxygen. My hands were frozen outside. I kept trying to talk on the radio,' Peng recounted in a Douyin video posted after his flight. His ordeal echoes that of German paraglider Ewa Wiśnierska, who survived a similar incident in 2007 after being lifted to 9,946 meters in Australia and losing consciousness for nearly 40 minutes. Both stories highlight the unpredictable dangers of high-altitude paragliding. Following the incident, the Aero Sports Association of Gansu Province confirmed Peng's flight was not officially approved. Peng claimed he was conducting ground training when the winds unexpectedly lifted him. The association classified the event as an accident rather than illegal flying, but suspended Peng's flying privileges for six months pending who holds a valid paragliding license and has logged multiple high-altitude flights in the region, has since avoided media attention, asking the public to refrain from amplifying the incident. His Douyin account has been set to private, and his flight record removed from XContest, a global paragliding Chinese regulations, all paragliding flights require prior approval and are prohibited in poor weather conditions. The ongoing investigation underscores the risks and regulatory challenges facing China's growing adventure sports scene.
