3 hours ago
8
If a record number of fatal bear attacks wasn’t terrifying enough, experts say a torrent of AI-generated videos in Japan purporting to show people in close encounters with the animals is only adding to public anxiety – and could put people at greater risk.
While headlines about real attacks and disruption appear on a regular basis, monitors of online content are warning social media users not to be taken in by realistic videos on platforms such as TikTok of the animals attacking or interacting with humans.
Two of the most notorious clips show several bears destroying panels at a solar plant, and another making off with a pet dog in its jaws. In other fake clips, a newsreader reports on bear sightings in the local area and an older woman is shown feeding fruit to a bear in a field.
Some even depict people, including a schoolgirl, fighting off the animals – the worst possible response to an encounter: black bears in Japan can weigh up to 130kg (287 pounds) and Ussuri brown bears, commonly found on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, as much as 400kg. And they can easily outrun humans.
Experts hope most people will be able to distinguish real from fake content, but the sheer number of clips could exacerbate fears that Japan is in the grip of an outbreak of ursine terror.
There is concern too that the videos could undermine government messaging on what to do during an encounter with a bear, either in the wild or, increasingly, in towns and other built-up areas, where they search for food.
In a search of the words “bear” and “video” on TikTok, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper found that about 60% of 100 selected clips were fake, having been produced using OpenAI’s video generator.
The clips featured a Sora watermark indicating they had been made using the US-based technology, and some posters indicated their posts weren’t real.
But some were so realistic that users could struggle to distinguish between fact and fiction.
Several clips included details that added to their air of authenticity, such as references to locations where bear sightings have made the news.
In one, a “news report” showed a bear being captured after entering a convenience store in Noshiro, Akita prefecture, where officials were quick to point out there had been no such incident.
Another AI-generated video showed people running away from a bear on a street on Ishikawa prefecture, prompting an official to issue a denial and urge residents to ignore information not issued by the local authorities.
Experts are particularly concerned about content showing people feeding the animals, despite repeated warnings not to carry food while hiking in the woods.
Experts blame poor crops of acorns and beechnuts, which form the bulk of the animals’ diet, for the sudden surge in bear sighting. Exacerbating the problem is the decline in natural boundaries that once separated forests and built-up areas, which have been blurred by decades of rural depopulation.
Faced with food shortages, the animals are venturing further out of their natural habitat and into residential areas.
“Feeding a bear is extremely dangerous, and could result in them no longer fearing humans,” Shinsuke Koike, a professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, told the Yomiuri.
The number of fake videos has soared in recent weeks, as users attempt to capitalise on public interest amid a slew of media reports of sightings and attacks.
A record 13 people have died in bear attacks in Japan this year – more than double the previous high – and more than 100 have been injured, according to the environment ministry. About 20,700 bear sightings were reported nationwide between April and September, about 7,000 more than in the same period in 2024.
The disruption to daily life in regions of northern Japan where the bear encounters are concentrated is unmistakably real.
Japan Post recently suspended collections and deliveries in part of Akita prefecture, where members of the self-defence forces have been deployed to help licensed hunters trap and dispose of bears.
The telecom firm NTT East will revisit safety protocols for engineers who have to venture into the mountains to maintain and repair communications towers, while the logistics firm Yamato has said it could suspend parcel services if it believes its workers are at risk.
