AN elderly couple from Kuala Lumpur recently made a trip all the way to Perak, excited to ride what they believed was a brand-new cable car attraction only to discover that it doesn’t exist.
A hotel worker who broke the news to the couple who drove over 300km detailed the incident in a social media post, saying that their experience had shocked her.
"At first, I thought they were joking when they asked if I'd been on the cable car.
"They said they came all the way from KL just for it. I was stunned," she wrote.
The AI-generated video featured a fictitious news segment by “TV Rakyat” showing scenes of a cable car called “Kuak SkyRide” travelling over forests and mountains, with purported interviews with tourists.
The video also features scenes of people queueing up at the “Kuak SkyRide” ticket counter.
Initially, the couple refused to believe the hotel worker, insisting the video they saw on Facebook must be real especially since it featured a “reporter.”
She had to break the news again, explaining that even the people in the video were AI-generated.
The couple admitted they were too embarrassed to ask their children about the video beforehand, while the hotel worker urged others to help elderly parents verify their travel plans.
Baling District Officer Yazlan Sunardie Che Yahaya confirmed that no such project exists and urged the public not to be misled by digital content, however convincing it may seem.
Acting Baling district police chief Deputy Superintendent Ahmad Salimi Md Ali also called on the public to verify online content before believing or sharing it. – July 5, 2025
