TLDR: Actor and rapper Will Smith is facing significant backlash from fans over a promotional video for his ‘Based on a True Story’ summer tour. Viewers accuse Smith of using artificial intelligence to create a fake, overly enthusiastic audience, citing numerous visual glitches and inconsistencies in the footage, leading to widespread disappointment and mockery.
Will Smith, 56, is currently embroiled in fresh controversy following the release of a promotional video for his ‘Based on a True Story’ world tour, which has drawn widespread criticism for allegedly featuring an AI-generated audience. The video, shared on his official YouTube channel and Instagram, is captioned: ‘My favourite part of tour is seeing you all up close. Thank you for seeing me too.’
However, fans quickly noticed numerous visual anomalies within the clip, leading to accusations of digital manipulation. Viewers pointed out distorted faces, blurred limbs, and even apparent extra digits among the crowd members. Some figures appeared to ‘glitch and melt together,’ while signs held aloft by fans seemed disproportionately large. A particularly highlighted instance involved a teary-eyed man holding a sign that read ‘You Can Make It’ helped me survive cancer. THX Will,’ whose right hand appeared to merge with the hand of a woman in front of him, whose wrist threaded through another woman’s headband.
Social media users were quick to voice their disappointment and ridicule. Comments included remarks like, ‘Fake AI crowd, fake comments, bots like 21K likes for Will Smith?’ and ‘Imagine being this rich and famous and having to use AI footage of crowds… Tragic, man.’ One critic described the video as an ‘abomination’ due to its low-quality appearance, suggesting it had been ‘heavily AI upscaled’ and contained ‘clearly AI-generated’ in-between scenes.
Smith’s ‘Based on a True Story’ tour, which commenced in July and is set to conclude in September, marks his first solo tour and coincides with his first full-length album release in two decades. This album, which reportedly addresses the fallout from his notorious 2022 Oscar incident, received low to mixed reviews. The current backlash adds to a series of recent controversies for Smith, including the infamous Oscars slap and ongoing discussions about his relationship with estranged wife Jada Pinkett-Smith.
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Adding a humorous twist to the criticism, some fans even joked that the lyrics for Smith’s new single, ‘Pretty Girls,’ might have been generated by ChatGPT. While Smith’s representatives have been contacted for comment by The Daily Beast, there’s also a suggestion from The Atlantic, cited by The Daily Beast, that YouTube has been known to artificially augment videos uploaded to its platform without creators’ knowledge, potentially offering an alternative explanation for the visual discrepancies. The actor is also reportedly facing financial challenges amidst these artistic criticisms.
