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Did Will Smith use AI to beef up the crowd in a YouTube concert video?

The people in West Philly rapper's new concert video seem to have distorted fingers, blurred knuckles, and more tell-tale signs of AI use.

Philly native Will Smith was honored in March with a street renaming. A section of North 59th Street at Lancaster Avenue was renamed Will Smith Way.
Philly native Will Smith was honored in March with a street renaming. A section of North 59th Street at Lancaster Avenue was renamed Will Smith Way.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

A recent video from Will Smith’s "Based on a True Story" tour has eagle-eyed viewers accusing the West Philly rapper of using artificial intelligence to enhance crowd shots.

The minute-long video was posted by Smith on YouTube with the caption, “My favorite part of the tour is seeing you all up close. Thank you for seeing me, too” and has upward of 125K views. It comprises a series of clips that shows fans swaying in the audience as Smith performs his part-gospel, part-inspirational rap “You Can Make It,” a single from the rapper-turned- Oscar-winning actor’s first album in 20 years.

In March, the 2000 block of North 59th Street in West Philadelphia’s Wynnefield neighborhood was officially renamed “Will Smith Way.”

If a Rolling Stone article is to be believed, the details of the video are creepy.

One shot shows fans holding up a “We <3 You Willy” sign, but images of the faces near it are distorted and blurred. Some people in the crowd, critics noted, appear to have extra fingers or oddly formed hands.

The comments on the video are brutal.

“Look at the crowd …,” one viewer wrote. “Music so powerful that their faces are melding together. TRUE magic. True music. Music. Magusic.”

Another image, an article on MSN says, shows a man’s blurry knuckle holding up a sign that reads “‘You Can Make It’ helped me survive cancer. THX Will.” Crowd shots in the video show people whose faces have the characteristic AI sheen.

In recent weeks, another bogus, AI-generated image showed Mick Jagger, Elton John, and Rod Stewart harmonizing at Ozzy Osbourne’s recent memorial service.

Although many have been quick to drag Smith for the seemingly AI-doctored footage, Rolling Stone reports YouTube regularly alters videos without telling its creators. In a recent story in the Atlantic, YouTuber Rhett Skull said he believes YouTube uses AI to upscale its videos and dial up image resolution and details.

Calls to Will Smith’s team haven’t been returned.