Fact Check: Sleeping man has close call with lion on Indian street? No, video is AI-generated

Hyderabad: A video allegedly showing a lion sniffing at a man sleeping on a street in India before walking away has gone viral on social media. The video has been widely shared with captions praising the man’s ‘incredible luck’ and the lion’s ‘unusual mercy.’

One such X post which shared the video stated, “In India, a man sleeping on the road escaped becoming a lion’s prey when the lion came near him, sniffed him, and then walked away. Of course! As long as life is destined, no one can harm you...!!” (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the viral claim is false. The video is AI-generated.

We closely examined the video and found several red flags that indicate the use of AI: the text on the signboards in the video appears jumbled and does not resemble any real-world language. This is a common flaw in AI-generated visuals, especially those produced by generative models that struggle with replicating legible text.

The sleeping man’s posture looks unnatural, stiff and awkward—another common giveaway of AI-manipulated scenes.

Deepfakes Analysis Unit of Misinformation Combat Alliance extracted keyframes from the video and analysed them using AI detection tools such as WasitAI, IsItAI and AI or Not. All three tools confirmed the content was AI-generated.

Despite the video being stylised to look like grainy CCTV footage, which can make detection more difficult, these visual cues and tool-based assessments pointed strongly toward AI manipulation.

We also found the original video on YouTube, uploaded on June 6, where a disclaimer below the video reads, “Sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated.” This further confirms that the footage is not authentic.

The claim that a man in India survived a lion attack while sleeping on the street is false. The video is AI-generated and does not depict a real-life incident.