AI Glitches Rock Tour

Will Smith kicked off his UK tour in Scarborough (24 August), but a promo video from his YouTube sparked backlash after fans claimed its cheering crowds were AI-generated.

But viewers soon began pointing out odd inconsistencies. Several shots showed audience members with strangely blurred or distorted faces. Others appeared to have hands with six fingers or unnaturally warped proportions. In one frame, a man’s knuckle melted into his sign, while a woman nearby seemed to have someone else’s headband wrapped around her wrist visual glitches many recognized as telltale signs of AI.

One sign in the video read: “‘You Can Make It’ helped me survive cancer. THX Will.” While the message was emotional, some fans questioned whether even this moment had been artificially constructed.

The reaction in the comments section was brutal. “Imagine being this rich and famous and having to use AI footage of crowds… Tragic, man,” one critic wrote, summing up the general mood. Others accused the Fresh Prince star of taking shortcuts instead of showing real fans who actually attended his concerts.

The timing of the backlash is striking, as the music industry is currently locked in heated debates over AI. Artists have raised concerns about its use in songwriting, vocal cloning, and even live performances. Earlier this month, Rod Stewart was criticised after including an AI-generated tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne during one of his shows, which many fans described as “disrespectful.”

For Smith, this marks another bump in what was supposed to be a major comeback. Based on a True Story, his first album in two decades, dropped in March and received mixed reviews. The Independent described him as a “solid rapper,” but slammed the record’s “half-baked” lyrics and vague platitudes.

Despite the controversy, the tour rolls on. Smith is set to perform in Cardiff tonight (25 August), before moving on to Manchester, London and Wolverhampton. Whether the AI uproar will overshadow his shows remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: fans are watching closely — both onstage and online.