Will Smith recently posted a video on social media showing what appear to be massive crowds of fans cheering for him during his European tour. The video’s caption expressed his appreciation, stating his favorite part was seeing fans up close and thanking them for seeing him too. In the crowds, some fans held up signs professing their love, with one even crediting his music for helping them survive cancer.
However, the video gives off an unusual feeling. While it looks believable at first glance, a closer look reveals digitally distorted faces, nonsensical finger placements, and oddly augmented features throughout the clips. The strange appearance led many fans to accuse Smith of using AI to generate fake crowd footage. This is particularly damaging for Smith, who is still recovering from the reputational harm caused by the slap incident. Using AI to exaggerate the size of his concerts or to fabricate heartfelt fan stories would be widely seen as indefensible.
Despite the accusations, these fans are likely not fake. There is no reliable method to definitively prove whether content was created with AI, which has contributed to a modern landscape filled with misinformation. As noted by tech blogger Andy Baio, Will Smith has posted photos and videos throughout his tour that show the same fans and signs featured in the questionable video. Older posts show nothing to indicate the images are synthetic, but in this new video, they appear to be AI-generated. It seems Smith’s team created a collage using real footage and AI-generated videos that used real crowd photos as source material, making the final product difficult to interpret.
Social media audiences are unlikely to spend time scrolling through Smith’s past posts to verify the authenticity of a fan story. The immediate takeaway for most is that Smith is posting fake videos of his fans, which is seen as deeply cringeworthy, even if the reality is slightly less egregious.
The timing was also unfortunate for Smith. YouTube had recently begun testing a new feature that uses machine learning to enhance the clarity of some Shorts posts. This processing made Smith’s video look even more artificial than versions posted on other platforms. YouTube’s creator liaison has since announced that creators will soon be able to opt out of this feature, which has been unpopular.
One could argue that Will Smith did not dupe his fans. His team may have simply used AI to generate footage from photographs to create a more visually compelling social media post, a practice comparable to other forms of video editing. However, the public does not see it that way. There is greater resistance to generative AI technology than to established creative tools like autotune or Photoshop. Even with those tools, fans are often put off by artists who use them in ways that feel deceptive.
If a fan buys tickets to see a pop star only to discover his recordings only sound good due to autotune, they would feel duped. It is similar to photographing a model for a skincare advertisement and then editing away their acne. Once an artist breaks their audience’s trust, it is very difficult to win it back, even if you are the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.