A video of a female spectator captured on a baseball broadcast that drew more than 8 million views on social media and online platforms is suspected to be AI-generated content.
The video, which recently went viral on social media and online communities, showed a woman watching a game from the stands. Wearing a white off-shoulder top and jeans with her legs crossed, she appeared absorbed in the game before letting out a sigh, seemingly frustrated by the players' performance. Korean and international netizens hailed her as "Korea's baseball goddess."
After the roughly five-second clip surpassed 8.1 million views, baseball fans began pointing out that it was "AI-manipulated footage." The broadcast screen listed Kim Seo-hyun as the pitcher and Cho In-seong as the batter. Kim joined the Hanwha Eagles in 2023, while Cho joined the LG Twins in 1998, retired in 2017, and currently works as a coach. Fans noted that "it is impossible for the two players to face each other on the field."
Some skeptical netizens tracked down the woman's Instagram account. The account contained eight posts, including videos of the woman exercising, all of which are presumed to be AI-generated content.
Netizens reacted with comments such as "They're trying to boost followers with AI videos," "I didn't sense anything off while watching the video," and "Measures to prevent crimes using AI need to be put in place quickly."
This is not the first time AI-generated images spreading through social media have sparked controversy. Last month, when a wolf named Neukgu escaped from Daejeon Zoo, AI-manipulated photos claiming to show sightings of the wolf spread online, causing problems. A man in his 40s, identified only by his surname A, was eventually apprehended by the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency's cyber investigation unit on charges of obstructing the search efforts of police and fire authorities through deception (obstruction of official duties by fraudulent means).
