Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has dismissed rumours widely circulating on social media, claiming that he passed away and calling out people for believing in fake news.
“If you people cannot identify fake news in today’s modern age, then what use are we old men in our sixties?” the cricket legend said in a video posted on Instagram to respond to an AI-generated video claiming that he had a heart attack.
Furthermore, he expressed shock at the social media users for asking him: “Are you alive”. “No, brother, I am making this video after passing away!” he said sarcastically.
Referring to the video, Akram — widely regarded as Swing of Sultan — said that the creator of the AI-generated video must have put in a “lot of effort” bringing in former cricketers Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar to spread this fake news.
“If they had used this mind for something good, they would have been highly successful in life,” he added.
At the end of the video, he thanked the followers for showing concern, saying: “I am fine, thank you.”
Separately, Shaniera Akram — wife of the former Pakistan captain — also dropped a video on her Instagram account showing her husband working out in the gym.
Along with the video, she captioned, “In response to the FAKE news and AI videos circulating, I just took this video for you, and as you can see, he is in the gym and seems to be ok!”