<\/p>\n
Will Smith has been at the centre of much online ridicule over some AI generated images of his tour.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the UK leg of his tour, promoting his first studio album in 20 years, \u2018Based On A True Story\u2019, a video was shared<\/strong><\/a> from his official YouTube channel and Instagram, titled: \u201cMy favourite part of tour is seeing you all up close. Thank you for seeing me too.\u201d<\/p>\n The clip gained attention for all the wrong reasons, as many claimed it makes\u00a0heavy use of AI<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 specifically faked\u00a0footage\u00a0of his fans and their homemade signs. Faces appeared blurred or melting, while body parts were impossibly distorted. <\/p>\n Smith was\u00a0accused of falsifying the crowds and by extension the hype surrounding his\u00a0comeback<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0tour. <\/p>\n \u201cImagine being this rich and famous and having to use AI footage of crowds\u2026 Tragic, man,\u201d commented someone online, while another wrote below his video: \u201cSo not only is this an abomination to look at because it\u2019s low quality phone footage that\u2019s been heavily AI upscaled, but there\u2019s also in-between scenes that are clearly AI-generated.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, Smith has clapped back by… posting another AI-generated video.<\/p>\n This time, the clip pokes fun at the people who complained about the fake-looking audience, swapping out human heads for cat heads.<\/p>\n Check out the clip below.<\/p>\n Smith has yet to formally address the accusations of digitally altering the concert video with AI. And while the cat face video is a cute response, it remains oblivious to the ongoing controversies facing the music industry. <\/p>\n A\u00a0recent study<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0estimated that without intervention from policymakers, people working in music are likely to lose more than 20 per cent of their income to AI over the next four years. Deezer also reported that roughly 10,000 AI-generated tracks are submitted to the platform on a daily basis, while AI developers in the music industry are set to gain \u20ac4bn – up from \u20ac0.1bn in 2023.<\/p>\n These figures come from the\u00a0first global economic study<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0examining the impact of AI on human creativity, courtesy of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC).<\/p>\n Related<\/b><\/p>\n Many artists are struggling to find fair remuneration in this new digital ecosystem, and have been speaking out against the\u00a0existential threat AI poses<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n From\u00a0Nick Cave<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Paul McCartney<\/strong><\/a>, via\u00a0Elton John<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Radiohead<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Dua Lipa<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Kate Bush<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Robbie Williams<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 all have\u00a0called on the UK government to change copyright laws<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0amid the threat of AI.<\/p>\n