BBC Identifies AI-Generated Fitness Instructors Making Misleading Weight Loss Claims
A BBC investigation found deceptive advertisements for fitness apps featuring AI-generated instructors making exaggerated claims about body transformations and weight loss. The ads violated UK advertising standards and often did not disclose that the fitness instructors were not real people.
What happened
A BBC investigation identified deceptive fitness app advertisements featuring AI-generated instructors that violated UK advertising standards. The ads presented artificially created characters claiming to have followed their own workout programs and promised body transformations scientifically implausible within the timeframes claimed, such as losing 18 kilograms in one month or appearing 20 years younger.
In many of the advertisements, it was not clear that the fitness instructors presented were not real people. The BBC forwarded these findings to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Reported impact
The ads were designed to sell fitness app subscriptions to consumers who viewed them on social media. AI-generated fitness content has been flooding social media over the past two years.
Index analysis
According to professor Andy Miah, a specialist in AI at the University of Salford, the trend is significant. When users interact with exercise and fitness content, algorithms rapidly flood their feeds with similar materials.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.