Sam Smith AI image incident — Sep 2026

On September 20, 2026, a post on X circulated AI-generated images claiming to depict singer-songwriter Sam Smith in 2016 and 2025 to suggest a drastic personal transformation. Analysis confirmed that these images were synthetic and did not accurately represent the artist during those years.

What happened

The viral post, shared by the account @Misifu72, featured a composite image alongside a video of Smith performing the song "Unholy" in a devil-themed costume. The claim used the images to allege that the singer had "sold his soul." To verify the authenticity of the content, the Hive Moderation AI-Generated Content Detection tool was utilized, which concluded that the images were 99.9% likely to be AI-generated.

Investigations revealed that the synthetic images were derived from real historical photographs found on Getty Images, rather than authentic captures from 2016 or 2025. The "2016" portion of the AI image was based on a photograph taken during Smith's appearance at the 88th Academy Awards on February 28, 2016. The "2025" portion was based on a photograph from his appearance at iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball in Atlanta on December 15, 2022. By comparing the AI-generated output to these original source photos, observers noted significant discrepancies in lighting, shading, and physical proportions. These artificial alterations served to exaggerate differences in the singer's appearance, creating a false narrative that was not supported by the underlying photographic evidence.