Overview

The Will Smith AI Crowd Allegations refer to claims that rapper and actor Will Smith posted a video of himself performing a concert with an AI-generated video of a crowd cheering him on, presumably to make the crowd look bigger and more enthusiastic than they really were. The clip in question was uploaded to Smith's Instagram and YouTube accounts on August 12th, 2025, and became the subject of speculation later that month as people investigated the video for signs of AI generation.

Background

On August 12th, 2025, Will Smith posted a video on Instagram^[1] and YouTube^[2] of himself performing for a crowd at a concert, garnering over 28,200 likes on the former and 274,000 views on the latter in two weeks. The video features several cuts to the crowd, who hold up signs supporting and showing love for Smith and his music.

On August 22nd, Redditor u/EverythingBOffensive made a post to the /r/quityourbullshit^[3] subreddit titled, "Will Smith uses AI crowds in his recent concert video," presumably sharing a link to the video before the post was removed by moderators, garnering over 2,200 upvotes in five days. This is the earliest known post calling out the alleged use of AI crowds.

Online Reactions

The accusations that Smith used an AI-generated crowd in the video garnered viral attention across social media in late August 2025 as the story spread online.

On August 22nd, 2025, a thread about the allegations was started on the /r/popculturechat^[4] subreddit, garnering over 300 upvotes in five days.

On August 25th, threads about the allegations were posted to the /r/nottheonion^[5] and /r/therewasanattempt subreddits that gained over 3,100 and 8,600 upvotes, respectively, in two days.

On August 26th, 2025, Independent^[6] reported on the allegations, sharing an image from the /r/therewasanattempt post as an example of the alleged AI crowd.

That day, X^[7] user @AmiriKing reposted a cropping of the crowd section of the video, writing, "People are claiming that Will Smith’s latest concert footage has an AI generated crowd. Y’all come look at this shit," gaining over 47,000 likes and 9.2 million views in a day.

Later on August 26th, X^[8] user @EarthPigs23A posted a screenshot from the video showing someone with a distorted hand, suggesting that the crowd is AI as AI programs often have trouble generating hands correctly, writing, "When you get your hand crushed but you have to see Will Smith," garnering over 1,600 likes in a day.

Search Interest

External References