[Anchor]

An analysis of health food and cosmetics advertisements easily found on YouTube has revealed that hundreds of fake videos utilize artificial intelligence. More than 400 cases of deceptive advertisements containing false or exaggerated claims—such as an adult growing more than 6 centimeters taller after taking medication or instantly developing abdominal muscles after wearing a massager—have been caught.

Reporter Kim Taewon has the details.

[Reporter]

A man with a protruding belly puts on a massage belt, and his abdominal muscles appear instantly.

The ad claims that wearing this belt significantly reduced pant sizes in just three weeks.

The advertisement for the massager claims that simply wearing the belt on the stomach has the same effect as doing 300 abdominal exercises. However, it turned out to be a fake advertisement created using AI.

The Korea Consumer Agency announced that as a result of analyzing YouTube advertisements for nine months from October of last year to June of this year, it detected and blocked a total of 420 fraudulent advertisements created using AI.

These advertisements deceived viewers by creating fake experts using AI or compositing images of bodily transformations.

They used AI to show an increased height, claiming that a person grew 6 centimeters after taking an adult height-growth pill, or created a fake doctor to advertise cosmetics that completely eliminate blemishes and age spots.

By category of fraudulent advertising, food products were the most common with 312 cases, followed by cosmetics and medical services.

In particular, more than half of the food advertisements were cases that deceived consumers by using unverified studies or testimonials, and there were also instances that caused consumers to mistakenly believe products had disease-prevention functions despite having no actual effects.

The Korea Consumer Agency advised consumers to be cautious and not be misled, noting that scenes such as physical transformation reviews or expert recommendations appearing in social media ads may have been manipulated using AI.

(Photo courtesy of: Korea Consumer Agency | Video by Lee Seung-yeol)