A Japanese town has retracted a social media alert about a bear sighting after discovering that the image used in the warning was generated by artificial intelligence. The incident comes at a time when concern over bear attacks is soaring in Japan, with the animals responsible for a record 13 deaths this year.
The town of Onagawa, located in Japan’s northern region, posted the image on its official X account on Wednesday after receiving it from a local company president. The photo appeared to show a large bear wandering through a residential neighborhood at night.
Believing the image to be credible—especially after reports of a real bear sighting in another district over the weekend—the town moved quickly to warn residents, particularly because the alleged sighting was near a nursery school. Schoolchildren were advised to travel in groups or take school buses, while preschoolers were kept indoors.
However, officials later discovered doubts about the image’s authenticity. “We were checking with different apps if the image was genuine or fake,” an Onagawa official told AFP. One analysis suggested it was likely AI-generated, while another suggested otherwise, highlighting the growing difficulty of identifying realistic synthetic images.
Later that afternoon, the person who originally created the image—an employee at the company—contacted the town to clarify that the picture was produced “for fun.” A colleague had mistakenly assumed the image was real and passed it to his boss, prompting the chain of misinformation.
Once the truth was confirmed, the town removed the post and issued an apology.
“We prioritised informing residents to avoid danger, but we apologise for causing any anxiety or confusion,” Onagawa said, adding that it would work to improve the accuracy and speed of future alerts. Despite the mistake, authorities stressed that residents should remain cautious, as genuine bear encounters have increased sharply nationwide.
Japan has seen a wave of bear intrusions over the past year, with animals entering homes, wandering near schools, and even raiding supermarkets—especially across rural northern areas. As fear spreads, AI-generated bear images and videos have flooded social media, making it harder to distinguish fact from fiction.
A recent investigation by the Yomiuri Shimbun found that nearly 60% of TikTok videos tagged with “bear” and “video” were fake. Many were created using advanced AI tools like OpenAI’s Sora. Viral examples included a grandmother feeding apples to a bear, a schoolgirl fighting off a bear with her bare hands, and a bear running away with a dog in its mouth. Some clips have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
The Onagawa incident has reignited discussions about the risks of misinformation at a time when Japan faces genuine wildlife dangers. Local governments are now being urged to verify digital content more rigorously before issuing emergency alerts.
