AI-Generated Clip of a ‘Yogi’ Lifting Heavy Weights Without Using Hands Viral

This video is created by an Instagram user "aikalaakari," who identifies as an 'AI filmmaker."

Fact-Check: This video is created using AI and is not real, as claimed.

(Source: The Quint) 

A person dressed in saffron robes, observed seated inside a gym, is being shared on social media. In the clip, he is seen lifting heavy weights without touching them.

Those sharing the clip noted, "Indian yogi moves 130 kgs of weight in the gym with his mind!"

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false as this video is created using artificial intelligence (AI).

What we found: At first, we ran a relevant keyword search to find whether such an incident had taken place, but did not find any reports supporting the viral claim.

• We, then, divided the video into multiple screenshots an ran a Google reverse image search on some of them.

• It led us to an Instagram post by 'aikalaakari' featuring the same viral clip. It noted, "INDIAN YOGI MOVES 95 KGS OF WEIGHT IN THE GYM WITH HIS MIND!" (sic.)

• Team WebQoof went through the person's profile and found that the person was an "AI filmmaker and VFX" professional.

• The person's username also included 'AI,' noting the viral clip was created using AI.

Here is the close up of the person's profile.

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

Anomalies in the video: The swift movement with which the weights go up in the air and the unchanged expressions of the two bystanders also note that the video was created using AI.

AI-detection tool: We ran the clip on Deepfake-O-Meter where one of its parameters revealed that the clip was created using AI.

Here are the results by Deepfake-O-Meter.

(Source:Deepfake-O-Meter)

Team WebQoof has previously fact-checked a video made by Instgaram user 'aikalaakari' which went viral as real and you can read it here.

Conclusion: An AI-generated clip has gone viral to falsely claim that a 'yogi' was able to lift heavy weights with his 'mind' is being shared as real on social media.

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