Overview

• Smith posted a thank‑you montage from his Based On A True Story tour, and viewers flagged blurred faces, warped hands and extra fingers as signs of AI manipulation.
• An investigation by Waxy.org matched multiple crowd shots to real photos and footage from recent European shows, including Positiv Festival in France, Gurtenfestival and Paléo in Switzerland, and Ronquières in Belgium.
• Waxy.org’s analysis suggests Smith’s team likely animated still tour photos using image‑to‑video tools, producing artifacts that were then worsened on YouTube.
• Google’s spokesperson said select YouTube Shorts are being run through non‑generative image enhancement to unblur and denoise, and creators and viewers noted the YouTube version looks rougher than copies on Instagram and Facebook.
• Representatives for Smith and YouTube did not immediately respond to several outlets, as debate continues over disclosure and the ethics of applying ML tools to real fan imagery.