[Anchor]

Ads claiming you can lose weight simply by wearing a belt, accompanied by seemingly genuine reviews, often make people tempted. However, a significant number of them have been revealed to be fake testimonials manipulated by AI.

The government announced regulatory measures last year to block such videos, but why has nothing changed? Morning Zoom-In, Reporter Kim Taewon investigates.

[Reporter]

A man with a protruding belly puts on a belt-type massager, and his body instantly transforms into a muscular physique with visible abs.

Testimonials praising dramatic effects from wearing this belt follow one after another.

[My dad wore this and went from a size 38 waist to a 32 in just three weeks.]

Reviews claiming a reduced waist size were confirmed to be fake videos created using AI.

According to an analysis of YouTube ads over a nine-month period until June by the Korea Consumer Agency, 420 AI-manipulated ads were found.

Using AI, physical appearances such as height and weight can be easily altered with just a single photo. Among the fake ads caught this time, exaggerating physical changes in this manner was the most common, accounting for 171 cases.

An ad featuring a review claiming that a fully grown adult whose growth plates have closed grew 6 cm taller by taking height-increase pills.

This is also an AI fabrication.

[Choi Byung-ho / Professor, Korea University Human-Inspired AI Institute: Since this is now unstoppable. Because the cost of producing AI videos is getting cheaper and the technology is becoming mainstream, it has reached a point where anyone can make them.]

When YouTube was once flooded with fake AI doctor ads, the government announced at the end of last year that it would introduce a labeling system for AI-generated content.

However, the implementation of the system has been delayed until now, and the problem is now spreading to fake review ads featuring fabricated ordinary people.

YouTube stated that it promptly removes such videos upon request by the Consumer Agency, but it has not introduced measures to proactively detect and block manipulated videos on its own.

(Camera: Kim Hangyul | Video Editing: Lee Seung-yeol | Source: Korea Consumer Agency)