Rescuers say a man who followed an AI app's suggested route up an undeveloped peak near Hangzhou fell, was stranded at night and had to be rescued

The rescue. Dushi Kuaibao's Chengshi Hudong report, carried by Sina Finance on 16 August 2026, says the Lin'an volunteer emergency rescue team received the call on the evening of 12 August: a person was trapped at more than 1,300 metres on Tonggongjian, one of the three peaks of western Zhejiang, a largely undeveloped area. Seven team members, two police officers and three firefighters went up; after about an hour and a half they found the man sitting on a folding stool with an injured foot, abrasions to his foot and knees, and helped him down to a walnut grove served by a small cargo railcar and on to the foot of the mountain, where his foot wounds were cleaned. The Zhejiang fire service's account, published by the China Fire official account (carried on Tencent News on 19 August) and by China National Radio's emergency broadcasting service on 23 August, says firefighters found him in a ravine after more than an hour of searching at night, with multiple abrasions but no serious injury, and escorted him down.

The AI account. Both accounts relay what the man said. In the rescue team's version he said he was from Suzhou, had quarrelled with his wife, could not think where to go and asked the AI software he often used on his phone; after asking about his psychological state, personality, height and fitness it recommended Tonggongjian, and he trusted it and set off from Suzhou for Lin'an. He said he seldom climbed or did outdoor sport, and the team says he arrived with almost no equipment. The team's executive leader said this was the first time in many years of rescues that they had met a visitor guided by AI, and that the AI recommended only the route without reminding him what equipment he would need. The fire service's version says the AI recommended he go to Tonggongjian to watch a meteor shower; he climbed alone, tried a shortcut as it grew dark, had no light and became lost; China National Radio's version adds that he set out at 4 pm and fell.

What is not established. The app, the man's questions and its replies are not published, and no account says that a rescuer saw the exchange. The two accounts differ on detail (meteor shower and shortcut in the fire service's version; an outing to clear his head in the rescue team's), and China National Radio describes him as a man in Hangzhou while the rescue team quotes him as saying he came from Suzhou.

Rescuers report that the man fell on an undeveloped mountain as it grew dark, suffered abrasions to his foot and knees and was stranded at about 1,300 metres until a rescue lasting several hours; rescuers relay his account that an AI app had recommended the route.

Brought down and treated for abrasions at the foot of the mountain (Dushi Kuaibao); the fire service described the injuries as minor. The fire service and rescue team used the case to warn against following AI route recommendations. No response by an AI provider was found, because the app is not named.