Fake bear videos add to public anxiety in Japan as attacks surge

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.

- Justin McCurry

Headlines about real attacks and disruption appear regularly, but 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 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 (287lbs) 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 clips, but the sheer number could exacerbate fears that Japan is in the grip of an outbreak of ursine terror.