The modern version of AI that we all know today hasn’t actually been around for that long. ChatGPT, AI image generation and AI web browsers are all fairly new concepts that have only popped up in the past few years. And yet, we’ve seen the technology go from strength to strength. Chatbots, in their early days, could barely string together a sentence, AI images were a complete mess and AI companions were confused to say the least.
All of those technologies have improved hugely. But the AI technology that has come further than any is AI video. If you look at the early videos produced by AI, they were a complete and utter mess. Objects would fly around the screen, people’s faces would disappear, and body parts would fling about without care for the laws of physics. That, however, has completely changed.
AI videos are often impossible to tell apart from the real thing, and have now even found their way into Hollywood. And yet, there are still areas that AI video just can’t get a handle on. One of these is gymnastics.
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The first AI video gymnastics
Around a year ago, in the middle of one of AI’s big pushes, we saw AI video really start to take off. While there were successes, it was mostly a laughable experience.
One of the trends that emerged was AI’s attempt at recreating gymnastics routines. The result was less gymnastics and more nightmare fuel of flailing body parts morphing into each other and spinning aimlessly.
to create a gymnastics routine using AI video-generation. from r/therewasanattempt
It was bizarre and entertaining, but at the same time, it made sense. Most AI models were, and still are, trained on 2D datasets that lack depth awareness. Pair that with rapid and unusual movements of the body and it becomes hard for AI to recreate this.
In fact, gymnastics is possibly one of the biggest challenges AI can face in the world of video. The movements are fast and erratic and they involve movements of the body that are hard to replicate frame by frame.
What’s it like now?
That was about a year ago. So where are we now? With the rapid development of AI, surely this is no problem at all? Well, kind of. While the quality has improved hugely, the problems are still there.
I tried to recreate gymnastics videos using different AI video generators. First, Midjourney, which created this.
It doesn’t take an expert to see what’s gone wrong here. Midjourney struggled to create an accurate representation of the flip, reinserting the same side of the person as they turned.
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I tried a different approach with Midjourney, looking at a different (albeit still complicated) movement for it to replicate. Still gymnastics, but less focused on the movement of flipping over.
Still not quite right, but compared to the first attempt, it is a lot closer.
So what about a different platform? Veo 3 is frequently considered to be one of the best AI video generators on the market. Could that crack the case?
The first attempt didn’t fill me with hope. Before and after the flip are impressive generations, but as soon as the flip begins, it all falls apart. The same problem occurred when I tried to get the model generating them running into the jump.
I even tried using ChatGPT to write the perfect response for Veo 3 that would avoid hallucinations and recreate the correct physics of this situation. That still seemed to struggle with the idea.
Can AI even make gymnastics videos?
However, while I struggled to get this kind of prompt to work, it doesn’t mean it is impossible. Venturetwins, a user on X, posted a video created with the new Kling 2.5 Turbo. In the video, they created three accurate gymnastics videos using AI.
The day has finally arrived – AI video CAN do gymnastics. (👏 to Kling 2.5 Turbo) pic.twitter.com/260pMgSvSaSeptember 23, 2025
Some users point out that, when the clip is slowed down, there are still noticeable glitches and body parts moving in inhuman ways, but it is the closest I’ve seen to finally cracking this code.
Another user responded with their own attempt to recreate this concept via Kling 2.5, showing yet another flailing body on the gymnastic stage.
Kling 2.5 Turbo is very much a recent announcement, but could potentially change the AI game. Or, as the technology gets better, maybe the likes of ChatGPT or Gemini will finally crack the gymnastic AI video code.
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