Image of cameraman filming Alex Honnold's Taipei 101 climb is AI-generated
- Published on February 2, 2026 at 03:01
- 2 min read
- By Sammy HEUNG, AFP Hong Kong
American daredevil Alex Honnold's free-climb of Taiwan’s tallest skyscraper in January 2026 was streamed live to a global audience, but an image circulating on social media purportedly showing a cameraman filming the stunt as he hangs off the side of the Taipei 101 building is an AI creation. The image was flagged as having been made with Google's AI tools, and differs from news footage of Honnold becoming the first person to scale the 101-storey tower without a rope, harness or safety net.
"The cameraman is such a badass," reads the traditional Chinese caption of an image shared on Threads on January 26, 2026.
The image appears to show a cameraman using one hand to cling to a building as they film Honnold scaling the same skyscraper.
The image was also shared in similar YouTube, Facebook and X posts after Honnold became the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net on January 25 (archived link).
Honnold has conquered some of the world's most intimidating rock faces and rose to global fame in 2017 after he climbed Yosemite's "El Capitan", lauded among his peers as the pinnacle of technical difficulty on the massive granite monolith.
His latest daredevil feat was streamed live by Netflix to a global audience, who saw Honnold complete the 508 metre (1,667 feet) free-climb in an hour and a half.
But an analysis of the circulating image using SynthID -- a detector launched by Google to identify AI-generated content -- identified with a "very high" level of confidence that it was created with the help of Google's AI tools (archived link).
The image also differs from news photos and videos of Honnold's climb.
An AFP photo shows Honnold was wearing a red shirt, black trousers and yellow shoes when he clambered up Taipei 101, but the circulating image depicts Honnold with grey trousers and dark-coloured shoes.
His white chalk bag is also a red colour in the falsely shared image.
The falsely shared image also shows Honnold with a rope around his waist, but live footage streamed by TVBS News shows he only used a rope when he rappelled from Taipei 101's peak -- a structure different to what is depicted in the falsely shared image (archived link).
The stunt was also filmed by multiple cameramen, who were either suspended from ropes in harnesses or stationed at fixed positions on the building -- not hanging off the side of the skyscraper, as depicted in the falsely shared image.
AFP has debunked other false claims relying on AI-generated content.
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