NBC Leads Move To Pull Viral Chinese Paraglider Video Over Concerns It Was AI Generated

Updated at 10.30 PT to reflect other sites pulling video. A dramatic video described as showing a Chinese paraglider surviving an unplanned 8,500m (27,000 ft) ascent and subzero temperatures has been pulled from a number of news sites over concerns that it may be AI generated.

Thousands of news organizations worldwide have posted the video in recent days, ranging from the UK’s BBC to France’s TF1 to the websites of newspapers such as The Guardian and The New York Times.

NBC News was the first U.S. network to pull the video early on Friday, after receiving information suggesting it was not authentic.

“NBC News 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. This note will be updated in due course,” it said in a statement posted under the pulled video.

The BBC also pulled the video a few hours later, with the note: “An earlier version of this article included a video of footage shared on Chinese social media and broadcast on state television purporting to show the paraglider’s flight. This has been removed while we investigate further after questions were raised about its authenticity.”

CNN also updated a previous post that had featured the video, reporting in an added paragraph: “Video shared by China Central Television (CCTV) on Tuesday showed Peng with ice covering his face and clothes while drifting in the clouds. However, parts of the video appear to be AI-generated; all of the footage is being investigated for authenticity by CNN. We are seeking further information from Peng Yujiang, but he has not responded to our request.”

According to the original story which broke earlier this week the video is described as showing 55-year paraglider Peng Yujiang’s terrifying ascent after his equipment became caught in an updraft known as a “cloud suck”.

The video, which features Peng battling with strong winds and then looking dazed and frostbitten above the clouds, was first posted on Chinese video-sharing App Douyin, the country’s version of TikTok.

The footage was then licensed by Chinese State TV network CCTV and a number of other viral video distributors.

Concerns over the footage come amid growing challenges for news organizations around AI-generated video and authenticating real footage.

With a question mark hanging over the authenticity of the video, the veracity of the story is also being re-investigated. In a separate story, NBC said it had reached out to several social media accounts connected to Peng but had not received a response.

In the same story, it explained suspicions about the authenticity of the video been had raised after it had emerged that the video had been cropped to cut a logo for Doubao AI, an AI tool created by Douyin and TikTok owner ByteDance.

Deadline has contacted CCTV for comment but has not received a response.