Hong Kong’s prison service has withdrawn an anti-drug video featuring a group of beautiful AI-generated virtual K-pop girls from social media and revised it after internet users said it resembled a promotion campaign for illegal substances.
The Correctional Services Department uploaded the controversial video, titled “Obsession: The Sugar-Coated Trap”, to its social media platforms on Friday.
In the video, four pretty AI-generated virtual K-pop girls in fancy clothes sing and dance. One, named “Cannabis”, says: “With a romantic puff of smoke [from grass], only one stick will help you forget all worries. Very chilled.”
Another girl, named “Ice”, says that trying her will “guarantee you feel so good your soul leaves your body”.
The department quickly removed and revised the video after social media users said it appeared to promote drug use rather than discourage it.
A department spokesman said the video was created using artificial intelligence (AI) and aimed to show that “through a method popular with young people, that drug use is poison packaged in a sugar-coated form, reminding them not to be tempted by it”.