AI-generated videos of bears in Japan on the rise amid more frequent attacks
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Fake videos of bear encounters were widely circulated on social media.
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TOKYO - One video shows a news programme apparently reporting about a wild bear sighting in a city. Other videos show an old woman feeding fruit to a bear she encountered in a field, a high school girl bravely shooing away a bear, and a bear running off with a pet dog in its mouth.
However, these videos – all fake – were apparently created by generative artificial intelligence (AI).
As bear sightings become more frequent across Japan
These videos have alarmed bear experts, who worry they could create misunderstanding about how to react when encountering these creatures in the wild and thereby exacerbate a dangerous situation.
Many such fake videos can be found on the video-sharing app TikTok.
The Yomiuri Shimbun did a search for the Japanese words for “bear” and “video” on the app, and then checked 100 of the videos that appeared.
About 60 per cent featured the “Sora” mark, indicating they had been created by US-based OpenAI’s generative video model.
Some of the video posters wrote in their profiles that they used videos made by generative AI. Some videos had been viewed several hundred thousand times.
However, the content of some videos made it difficult to distinguish if they were real or fake. It is possible more fake bear videos will be created.
Some videos specifically mention the name of an area where bears have actually been sighted.
One such video appeared to show news footage reporting that a 1m-long bear had been captured after entering a convenience store in Noshiro, Akita Prefecture.
Some videos also include fake bear sighting information.
An official of the city government told The Yomiuri Shimbun that no such incidents had occurred in Noshiro.
“This could make residents feel uneasy,” the official said. “If we receive inquiries sparked by false information, it could disrupt our work here.”
One video claims to show people fleeing from a bear that appeared on a street in a residential area of Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture.
An official of the city government insisted that the video’s content was not true.
“I urge people to pay attention to bear sighting information issued by the local authorities,” the official added.
The fake videos also included clips of people appearing to fight off bears.
Among them, a high school student who was attacked by a bear on a residential street fends off the creature with her bare hands.
In another, an elderly woman uses a broom to chase away a bear that attempted to enter a building. Several videos showed people giving food to bears that had approached them.
Most of the videos that appeared to have been created by generative AI were posted in October or later. Their number has surged since late October.
At a time when sightings of bears in urban areas have become a serious problem nationwide, observers believe people made and posted these videos just for fun in the expectation they would go viral.
“Feeding a bear is extremely dangerous possibly resulting in bears no longer fearing humans,” said Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology’s Professor Shinsuke Koike, an expert on bear habitats and measures for dealing with bears.
“If you encounter a bear, don’t approach it. Move away from the area. If you are attacked, it’s important to use a bear spray and assume a defensive position that protects your head and neck
