Overview

• On Aug. 29, Smith posted an Instagram video that pans to a stadium of AI-generated cat heads, captioned “Crowd was poppin’ tonite!!”.
• The move riffs on criticism of an Aug. 12 tour montage that viewers flagged for distorted faces, odd hands and mangled signs suggestive of AI generation or heavy upscaling.
• Actress Heather-Ashley Boyer said her face and body appeared in the disputed footage despite not attending the show.
• Smith has not offered a formal technical explanation, while Green Day appeared to mock the situation with a post reading, “Don’t need A. I. for our crowds.”
• The clips relate to his European Based on a True Story tour promoting his first album in two decades, which was scheduled to wrap in Paris on Sept. 2.