AI ad tricks couple into traveling hours to fake tourist destination
The age ofAIis fully upon us, and it’s getting increasingly difficult to parse out what’s real and what’s fake. For instance, AI-generatedASMR videosare taking overTikTok, and many users on dating apps have likelyspoken with potential dateswho are actually AI.
In fact, the technology is already so realistic that it’s convincing people to take vacations to AI-generated destinations under the impression that they’re actually real places open for tourists.
As reported by theSouth China Morning Post, a couple from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, came across a video on social media showing a female journalist from a fictional TV station named ‘TV Rakyat’ reviewing a cable car ride that supposedly took tourists through a scenic view of the local landscape in Perak, a Malaysian state.
That’s not all; the journalist even interviewed fake people about their experience on the cable car and dined at a fancy restaurant nestled in the mountains — but none of it was real.
After traveling three hours from their home in Kuala Lumpur to experience the tram themselves, the couple wasn’t able to locate it and asked a worker at their hotel where they could find it.
Following some confusion, they explained the video they’d seen, prompting the staff member to explain that the video was completely AI-generated.
As per the post, the couple grew angry and vowed to sue the reporter. The worker had to clarify that no one in the video, not even the journalist, was real.
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These two unlucky travelers aren’t the only ones who have been duped by the video. Malaysian news outlet ‘Says’ also reports that another older couple saw the clip and spent 9,000 ringgit ($2,120 USD) to rent a van and visit the tram.
The video has since been taken down, sparking conversation across Malaysian social media about the rapid improvements of generative AI.
In fact, the country implemented apolitical officespecifically aimed at regulating artificial intelligence in December 2024 — something citizens in othercountries are calling forassimilar situationscontinue to pop up across the net.
