Is the Makita Back Monkey real? Viral Personal Robot Assistant video debunked

Makita robot monkey is going viral on Facebook after a user, Aaron Charles Sheridan, shared a video on his account. In it, a construction worker can be seen being assisted by a robot monkey.

The advertisement stated that the robot assistant allegedly made by Makita can help workers by holding up the drywall, among other tasks. The video went massively viral, garnering nearly 6 million views and over 17,000 likes.

The viral robot monkey video is fake, as it was created with the AI-generating tool Sora. The watermark is clearly visible. Makita, the Japanese power tool-making company, is a global supplier, and it does not have such a product on its website.

The majority of Facebook users realized that the video was fake. They made jokes about the robot monkey.

"I have spent all these years getting the monkey off my back, and here comes Makita. Curses!" one Facebook user wrote.

"Waiting for the older folks in the comments talking about how exciting the future is," another user noted.

"I prefer the trunk monkey. He is funny, and beats up bad people," one netizen wrote.

Some netizens seemingly thought the AI-generated video was real. They pointed out that the Makita robot assistant supposedly took jobs from humans, and when the battery runs out in the middle of a job, it would make the work harder.

"So instead of hiring a helper you buy a back monkey. A few years from now they will have a robot to do the whole job. Say no to robots and say yes to hiring humans," one netizen added.

"Please!! Is this for real? Ok if so a laborer just lost his job, how much does this machine getting paid?" another netizen wrote.

"And when the battery runs out halfway through the job then you are fucked," another Facebook user noted.

Similar to the Makita robot monkey video, AI videos are taking over social media

OpenAI released Sora 2 this month. The AI tool is capable of creating accurate videos. According to Axios's October 12, 2025, report, Sora 2 Pro does not even leave a watermark on the generated video.

The rise in fake videos on social media has been observed, featuring animals performing unusual acts, such as riding a bike, and animated videos. Netizens have even created posts on Reddit, asking how they can remove the Sora watermark from their videos.

Jeremy Carrasco, the founder of Showtools.ai, told the news outlet that while the AI videos are not perfect, the majority of social media users don't know how to differentiate them from a genuine video.

He noted that spotting fake videos could be a "media literacy skill." However, with the quick advancement of technology, even the most knowledgeable person would be fooled.

"If you think of AI video spotting as another media literacy skill, this works... But, if you think that you're going to be able to spot your way out of it, it's not going to happen," Jeremy Carrasco stated.

Stay tuned for more news on AI videos, such as the Makita robot assistant video.