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Low reported severity Media Coverage

Malaysia: hotel worker says elderly couple travelled from Kuala Lumpur to Perak for a cable car shown in an AI-generated news video

A hotel worker in Perak, Malaysia, said in a Threads post on 30 June 2025 that an elderly couple checking in asked whether she had ridden the cable car at Kuak Hulu, telling her they had travelled from Kuala Lumpur for it. They had seen a nearly three-minute video in which a journalist from a 'TV Rakyat' channel appears to introduce a 'Kuak SkyRide' cable car and interview visitors. The worker says she explained the video was AI-generated; the woman asked why anyone would lie when there was even a reporter in it and said she wanted to sue the journalist, and the couple said they had been too embarrassed to check with their children. The Baling district officer acknowledged that the content was AI-generated, and the acting district police chief said checks found no such cable car and that no report of losses had been received. A Fast Company column says the video carried a Veo3 logo. Who made the video is unknown.

AI system
Veo 3 (reported)
Google
Occurred
Jun 2025
Reported
3 July 2025
Event location
Malaysia
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Other Material HarmPsychological Distress
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Everyday life · Travel
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources
6 claims: 6 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
2 people

AI system as recorded: An AI-generated news-style video with a synthetic television journalist from a 'TV Rakyat' channel presenting a non-existent cable car; a Fast Company column says it carried a Google Veo3 logo

What Happened

The trip. A hotel worker in Perak, Malaysia, said in a post on Threads on 30 June 2025 that an elderly couple checking into her hotel asked whether she had ridden the cable car at Kuak Hulu. She thought they were joking until the woman told her they had travelled all the way from Kuala Lumpur for it.

The video. The couple had seen a nearly three-minute video in which a journalist from a 'TV Rakyat' channel appears to introduce a 'Kuak SkyRide' cable car and interview visitors, with scenes of people queueing at a ticket counter and a ride over forests that ends near the foot of Baling Mountain in Kedah. The Straits Times describes the video as AI-generated, and a Fast Company column says it carried a Veo3 logo in its bottom right corner and was fabricated with Google's Veo3.

The couple's reaction. According to the worker, when she explained that the video was AI-generated, the woman asked why anyone would lie when there was even a reporter in the video and said she wanted to sue the 'TV Rakyat' journalist. The couple said they had been too embarrassed to check with their children before the trip.

Officials. The Baling district officer acknowledged to Sinar Harian that the video's content was AI-generated and said the cable car does not exist. The acting Baling district police chief said checks in Baling and Pengkalan Hulu found no such cable car project and that the police had received no report of losses, fraud or public concern about the content. The account of the couple rests on the hotel worker's post; who made the video and what the trip cost are unknown.

Reported harm

According to the hotel worker who met them, an elderly couple travelled from Kuala Lumpur to Perak to ride a cable car shown in an AI-generated news video; the woman was shocked to learn the reporter was not real and wanted to sue, and the couple were embarrassed. The cost of the trip is not reported.

How Harm Occurred

An AI-generated news-style video presented a non-existent tourist attraction through a synthetic television journalist and invented visitor interviews; an elderly couple took it as real reporting and travelled across the country to visit the attraction.

Outcome

Unknown

The Baling district officer and the acting Baling district police chief publicly said the cable car does not exist and urged the public to verify online content; the police said they had received no report of losses or fraud and that action could be taken under existing laws if such content caused public alarm. Sinar Harian found the video no longer online on 3 July 2025.

What remains unknown

  • Who made and posted the 'TV Rakyat' video, and on which platform the couple saw it (outlets mention TikTok and Facebook).
  • What the trip cost the couple; the police said they had received no report of losses.
  • The exact date of the couple's trip; the hotel worker posted on 30 June 2025.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The couple relied on a video presented by an apparent television journalist who, the Straits Times and the hotel worker say, was AI-generated and did not exist. The Straits Times describes a visual artefact at the end of the video, an old woman whose legs and body merge into a misshapen blob as she flips. A Fast Company column says the video carried a Veo3 logo in its bottom right corner and was fabricated with Google's Veo3. The Baling district officer acknowledged to Sinar Harian that the content was AI-generated, and the acting district police chief called it viral AI content and said checks confirmed no such cable car exists. No technical examination of the video by the authorities is described, and who made and posted it is unknown.

6 claims: 6 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported A hotel worker in Perak said in a Threads post on 30 June 2025 that an elderly couple checking into her hotel asked whether she had ridden the cable car at Kuak Hulu, and that the woman told her they had travelled all the way from Kuala Lumpur for it.

Causal attribution. The hotel worker's own account as The Straits Times relays it; the couple did not speak to the press.

  • straitstimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'A hotel worker who broke the news to the couple detailed the incident in a post on Threads on June 30, saying that their experience had shocked her.'; '“(The couple) came to check into the hotel, and they asked if I’ve ridden the cable car at Kuak Hulu. I thought they were just kidding,” said the worker.'; 'But she soon realised the couple were serious when the elderly woman told her that they had travelled all the way from Kuala Lumpur for it.'
Reported The couple had seen a nearly three-minute video, described as AI-generated, in which a journalist from a 'TV Rakyat' channel appears to introduce a 'Kuak SkyRide' cable car attraction and interview visitors; The Straits Times describes an old woman in the video whose legs and body merge into a misshapen blob as she flips.

Causal attribution. The Straits Times' description of the video.

  • straitstimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'The fake cable car is depicted in a nearly three-minute-long AI-generated video in which a journalist from “TV Rakyat” appears to introduce the attraction and interview visitors, including tourists from Thailand.'; 'The video also features scenes of people queueing up at the “Kuak SkyRide” ticket counter.'; 'As she flips, her legs and body merge to become a misshapen blob, before she lands on her feet and returns to normal.'
Reported According to the hotel worker, the elderly woman asked why anyone would lie when there was even a reporter in the video, said she wanted to sue the 'TV Rakyat' journalist, and the couple said they had been too embarrassed to check with their children first.

Causal attribution. The hotel worker's account of the couple's words.

  • straitstimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    '“The auntie then asked, ‘Why would anyone want to lie? There was even a reporter (in the video)’,” she added.'; 'added she wanted to sue the “TV Rakyat” journalist.'; 'When asked why they did not check with their children before visiting the non-existent attraction, the couple said they were too embarrassed.'
Reported The Baling district officer acknowledged that the video's content was generated by artificial intelligence and said the cable car does not exist.

Causal attribution. The district officer's statement to Sinar Harian (the AI wording is Sinar Harian's paraphrase of his acknowledgement; his quoted words call it 'kandungan AI', AI content).

  • sinarharian.com.my(opens in new tab) supports · Malay
    'mengakui bahawa kandungan video tersebut dihasilkan menerusi janaan kecerdasan buatan (AI) dan meminta orang ramai supaya tidak keliru.'; '“Sudah tentu ia tidak wujud... tetapi saya akui teruja melihatnya.'
Reported The acting Baling district police chief said checks in Baling and Pengkalan Hulu found no such cable car project and that the police had received no report of losses, fraud or public concern about the viral AI content; he told the New Straits Times that preliminary checks confirmed the video was entirely fabricated.

Causal attribution. Two interviews with the same police officer (Sinar Harian's own, and the New Straits Times' as relayed by The Straits Times): one origin. The police describe no technical examination of the video.

  • sinarharian.com.my(opens in new tab) supports · Malay
    '“Sehingga kini, kami belum menerima sebarang laporan membabitkan kerugian, penipuan atau kebimbangan berhubung kandungan AI yang tular itu.'; '“Hasil semakan di daerah Baling mahupun di Pengkalan Hulu, memang tiada projek kereta kabel sedemikian,” katanya.'
  • straitstimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He added that preliminary checks have confirmed the video was entirely fabricated.'
Reported A Fast Company column says the video was fabricated with Google's Veo3 generative engine and carried a Veo3 logo in its bottom right corner.

Causal attribution. The columnist's description of the video; the column does not say who first identified the logo.

  • fastcompany.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'a video fabricated with Veo3, the generative artificial engine made by Google.'; 'There was a Veo3 logo in the bottom right corner.'

Sources

3 sources inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

The Straits Times, 3 July 2025, relaying the hotel worker's Threads post of 30 June and the acting district police chief's comments to the New Straits Times; read in full (HTTP 200). Applies to s1.

Read in the original Malay; the English renderings in this record are translations by the research agent (an AI), not by a human translator. Sinar Harian, 3 July 2025, with its own interviews of the Baling district officer and the acting Baling district police chief; read in full (HTTP 200). Applies to s2.

Fast Company opinion column, 17 July 2025, describing the video; live HTTP 403, Internet Archive capture of 24 May 2026 read in full. Applies to s3.

Event countries: Malaysia. Affected-person countries: Malaysia. Court countries: Unknown.

The couple travelled from Kuala Lumpur to a hotel in Perak, Malaysia, to find a cable car said to run from Kuak Hulu in Perak to Baling in Kedah (The Straits Times, Sinar Harian).

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-19: Published as a core case (communicated_with): an elderly couple relied on a video in which an apparently AI-generated television journalist presented a non-existent cable car attraction, and travelled from Kuala Lumpur to Perak to ride it, according to the hotel worker who met them. The video is described as AI-generated by the district officer and the police, and a Fast Company column reports a Veo3 logo on it. The account rests on one hotel worker's post.

People described

An elderly couple from Kuala Lumpur who travelled to Perak after watching the video

People reported harmed in this case

2 people

0 AI participants · 2 other people harmed

Two: the elderly couple the hotel worker describes. Other viewers of the video, and a netizen's parents mentioned in other coverage, are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#ai-generated-video#synthetic-presenter#fake-news-segment#travel#elderly#malaysia

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Malaysia: hotel worker says elderly couple travelled from Kuala Lumpur to Perak for a cable car shown in an AI-generated news video. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-perak-malaysia-elderly-couple-travelled-for-cable-car-shown-in-ai-generated-news-video-hotel-worker-says

BibTeX

@misc{2025_perak_malaysia_elderly_couple_travelled_for_cable_car_shown_in_ai_generated_news_video_hotel_worker_says,
  title = {Malaysia: hotel worker says elderly couple travelled from Kuala Lumpur to Perak for a cable car shown in an AI-generated news video},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-perak-malaysia-elderly-couple-travelled-for-cable-car-shown-in-ai-generated-news-video-hotel-worker-says}
}

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