Elderly Couple Travels Across Country To Enjoy Cable Car Ride, Turns Out To Be AI-Generated

The scope of artificial intelligence is expanding daily, with a range of previously unimaginable creations emerging. Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming a larger part of our professional or personal life, including healthcare, education, tourism, hospitality and defence. As AI continues to grow, we witness fresh cases of its impact in real lives. Recently, an elderly Malaysian couple reportedly ended up at a tourist destination that turned out to be AI-generated, reported The Independent UK.

The couple had seen a video of a newly launched "Kuak Skyride" - a purported scenic cable car ride in the quiet town of Kuak Hulu. The video looked like a local news coverage with a TV anchor exploring the new joyride and even interacting with other tourists visiting the place from Thailand. However, the entire thing, including the journalist, was AI-generated.

The incident was reported by a hotel employee in Gerik, Perak (a state of Malaysia), who shared it in a social media post that has now gone viral. She recalled that the couple allegedly asked her if she had visited the cable car in Kuak Hulu. They had travelled more than 370km from Kuala Lumpur to enjoy this ride.

^{Photo: Independent UK/TikTok}

"I was so shocked... I explained to the auntie that the video was (made by AI) and not real," the hotel worker wrote in the post. "The auntie then asked, 'Why would anyone want to lie? There was even a reporter,'" she shared.

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The elderly woman said that she did not come across any comments under the video to point out that it was fake. They wanted to sue the journalist, to which the hotel employee reminded them that the journalist was not real either.

"Please, all of you diligently ask your parents who are travelling, ask where you are going from KL [Kuala Lumpur] to Perak," the employee added in her post.

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The local authorities also issued clarification that such a cable car does not exist in Perak. Malaysian town Baling's acting district police chief Ahmad Salimi Md Ali cautioned the public against sharing content on social media before verifying, reported Malay Mail. Police could take action under existing laws if such content caused public alarm or disrupted order, he added.