Will Smith has responded to accusations that he used AI to create a video showing cheering crowds at his shows – and he did it by leaning into the controversy.
The Hollywood actor and rapper, 56, who is still facing backlash for the claimed AI video, shared a new video on Instagram along with the caption: “Crowd was poppin’ tonite!!”
It shows Smith onstage before the camera pans to the crowd, who all have computer-generated feline heads.
The comments were flooded with supportive comments, with one fan joking: “Haters are gonna say this is AI” while another wrote: “I love the way Will handles these haters lmao.”
A third joked: “Ya gotta be kitten me”, while Roots drummer and documentary maker Questlove commented: “That scared me.”
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Smith kicked off the U.K. leg of his Based on a True Story tour in Scarborough on August 24 in support of his recent album of the same name.
Ahead of the concerts, a video was shared from his official YouTube channel, titled: “My favorite part of tour is seeing you all up close. Thank you for seeing me too.”
In the days that followed, the clip gained attention as viewers claimed it makes heavy use of AI for footage that seemingly shows his adoring fans crying and waving homemade signs. Some shots show audience members with their faces appearing blurred or distorted, while others seem to have oddly shaped hands, some of which appear to have six fingers.
Another shot shows a man’s knuckle appear to blur along with his sign, which reads: “‘You Can Make It’ helped me survive cancer. THX Will.”
Meanwhile, the woman in front of him is seemingly holding his hand, but the headband of the woman behind her is somehow over her wrist.
Fans in the comments section of the YouTube video have called out the Fresh Prince of Bel Air star for showing what they branded a “fake AI crowd.”
“Imagine being this rich and famous and having to use AI footage of crowds… Tragic, man,” one critic said.
Another wrote: “So not only is this an abomination to look at because it’s low quality phone footage that’s been heavily AI upscaled, but there’s also in-between scenes that are clearly AI-generated,” another said, citing timestamps where the alleged inconsistencies occurred.
“Videographers exist, why abandon quality work for this degenerative slop?” they questioned.
One fan remarked: “I don’t want to be that guy but: You can see many people in the crowd having six fingers or more, eyes smudged, faces are distorted. Proving that certain (well, almost all clips that show the audience) are AI-generated.”
“Hey [Will] these PR stunts are going nowhere,” one fan said. “What kind of sheeple do you think we are bro? You can’t be this ignorant bruh c’mon it’s embarrassing.”
Smith released his first album in two decades, Based on a True Story, in March this year. In a two-star review, The Independent called him a “solid rapper” but criticized the frequently “half-baked, corny” lyrics and “vague, hackneyed platitudes about failure and redemption.”
