Green Day have thrown shade at Will Smith after the actor and rapper found himself embroiled in controversy over alleged AI-generated crowd footage in a recent tour video.
The punk rock legends shared a TikTok video from their South American tour showing genuine fans packed near the stage belting out “Basket Case”. The caption read: “Don’t need AI for our crowds”, accompanied by a cheeky winking emoji — a clear jab at Smith’s predicament.
Smith’s troubles began nearly two weeks ago when he posted what appeared to be a heartfelt thank-you video to fans from his European tour. The montage featured crowd shots with the caption: “My favourite part of tour is seeing you all up close. Thank you for seeing me too.” However, eagle-eyed viewers quickly spotted irregularities in the footage.
@greenday Don’t need A.I. for our crowds 😜 🎥 Ryan Baxley
Critics pointed to distorted and blurry faces throughout the video, with some audience members appearing to have extra fingers or oddly shaped hands. The hyper-real, overly polished appearance of certain fans in close-up shots further fuelled speculation about artificial intelligence enhancement.
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Tech blogger Andy Baio conducted one of the most thorough investigations into the allegations (as per Rolling Stone). His analysis revealed that many of the questionable shots — particularly those showing fans holding signs — had previously appeared as still photographs on Smith’s Instagram account before the video’s release.
Baio’s findings suggest a possible explanation for the AI accusations. Rather than creating entirely fake crowds, Smith’s team may have used existing still photographs and processed them through what Baio described as an “image-to-video model to create a short animated clip suitable for a concert montage.”
The investigation also uncovered YouTube’s potential role in the controversy. The platform has admitted to running experiments on select YouTube Shorts using “image enhancement technology to sharpen content.”
Despite the widespread discussion and analysis, neither Smith nor his representatives have addressed the AI allegations.
