2025

Two weeks ago, I wrote about how everyone got the viral Will Smith AI video wrong.

Most people believe that Will Smith’s team used AI to generate fake crowds and fake fans, presumably to cover for low turnouts, but the reality was much more mundane: they used AI to turn real photos into short video clips for a montage. The crowds were real, but everyone was convinced they were fake.

The focus of the internet’s suspicions was a couple holding a sign saying that a Will Smith song helped them to survive cancer, which Futurism called “nightmare fuel” with an expression “never before seen on a living human face.” Redditors called it “pathetic,” “vile,” and “sad and weird.”

After writing my post, I was left wondering what this uniquely-modern experience was like for these two people.

How did it feel to have millions of people think that you didn’t exist and were generated by AI? What was the story behind their sign, and what did that moment mean to them?

So I tracked them down to ask them.

This minute-long clip of a Will Smith concert is blowing up online for all the wrong reasons, with people accusing him of using AI to generate fake crowds filled with fake fans carrying fake signs. In the last day, the story’s been covered by Rolling Stone, VIBE, NME, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Mail, The Independent, Mashable, and Consequence of Sound.

And it definitely looks terrible! The faces have all the characteristics of AI slop, with familiar artifacts like uncanny features, smeared faces, multiple fingers/limbs, and nonsensical signage. “From West Philly to West Swig̴̙̕g̷̤̔͜y”?

But here’s where things get complicated.

The crowds are real. Every person you see in the video above started out as real footage of real fans, sourced from multiple Will Smith concerts during his recent European tour.

For the third year, the Tiny Awards have released their list of finalists that represent “the best of the small, poetic, creative, handmade web.” Voting is now open and runs until the end of this month, closing on September 1.

I was on the judging committee this year, returning after a year away to focus on the final XOXO, and helped narrow down the finalists from 176 nominated websites.

I love this little low-stakes contest, and the experience of being bombarded with so many great weird experimental projects is an honor for me.

Like my roundup two years ago, here’s a little about each of this year’s 11 finalists to help inform your vote.