Will Smith is back on stage – but apparently he forgot one small detail: real people in the audience. Because when he uploaded his concert video, the fans didn’t look like humans, they looked like experiments from an underpaid intern at an AI startup. The result? The internet has had a field day at his expense.
The audience looks like those in the first version of Sims
In the video for “Based on a True Story Summer Tour” we see arenas that are supposed to be packed with cheering people. But it looks more like someone accidentally pressed “Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V” on a bunch of low-resolution NPCs. The faces are blurry like grease stains on a McDonald’s receipt, the signs are just an AI mess, and some fans react as if they just discovered a new chip flavor.
The fans hit harder than Chris Rock 2022
The comments poured in, and they were ruthless. One person wrote:
“Fake AI crowd, fake comments, bots like. 21k ‘likes’ for Will Smith?”
Another who still misses the old Fresh Prince noted:
“Imagine being so rich and famous and still needing fake crowd images. Sad, man. You used to be cool.”
Yet another with sharp eyes..
“Holy AI … This isn’t even a good AI render, you can tell right away it’s fake.”
In other words: people probably had more patience for “Wild Wild West” than for this.
Better half full than completely fake, Will
If Will Smith actually used AI (which you can be fairly certain of) to fill the arena, it is more than just an embarrassing detail. It says something about desperation and insecurity in an industry where everything has to look bigger, cooler, and more “sold out” than it really is. There is a risk that the AI cheating will make fans lose trust – because when the audience realizes they cannot trust what they see, the sparkle is gone. Faking an audience can in the long run be more damaging than playing to a half-full arena, because at least that half of the audience is real.
Why would he do it then? One theory is pure image control: Smith has not been on solo tour for over 20 years, and showing full arenas creates a feeling that he is “back on top.” Another is marketing – the AI audience may have been intended as a visual spice, but instead became a mockery of himself. In today’s climate, where authenticity is hard currency, it becomes a self-inflicted wound of epic proportions.
The irony? If he had instead hired extras and given them a free hot dog, it would have been more credible.
