George Carlin has been lifeless for 15 years, however synthetic intelligence doesn’t appear to thoughts.
A video billed as an AI-generated “George Carlin impersonation” was posted Wednesday on YouTube, to the chagrin of Carlin’s daughter and lots of followers. The materials was generated by an AI program known as Dudesy, and delivered in a simulacrum of Carlin’s talking voice.
“My dad spent a lifetime perfecting his craft from his very human life, brain and imagination,” Kelly Carlin wrote Wednesday on X, the platform previously referred to as Twitter. “No machine will ever replace his genius.”
“These AI generated products are clever attempts at trying to recreate a mind that will never exist again,” she continued. “Let’s let the artist’s work speak for itself. Humans are so afraid of the void that we can’t let what has fallen into it stay there.”
The hourlong particular, “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead,” makes use of an approximation of Carlin’s voice for digs at matters like mass shootings, transgender folks and former President Donald Trump. It begins with a disclaimer from a computer-generated voice: “I just want to let you know very clearly that what you’re about to hear is not George Carlin. It’s my impersonation of George Carlin.”
Carlin, usually considered one of the influential stand-up comics within the historical past of the shape, died in 2008. Later that yr, he grew to become the primary comic to be posthumously awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
The “Dudesy” program seems as a “co-host” on a podcast of the identical title, alongside actor Will Sasso and writer Chad Kultgen.
Kelly Carlin, who can also be a radio host, helped write and produce a few of her father’s work whereas he was alive. Following her disavowal of the Dudesy video, one particular person accused her of solely being “concerned about money.”
“I’m worried about his legacy,” Kelly replied Thursday. “His reputation. His art. I’m allowed to do that as his daughter and while I’m alive. It’s important that these corporations don’t rape & pillage art. Don’t assume you understand who I am and what values I live by.”
The AI does a placing job of capturing Carlin’s sensibilities, tone and joke construction ― albeit with out the human wit, attraction or heat of the comic himself. The Dudesy program had a wealth of fabric to work with, as Carlin launched a brand-new particular practically each different yr and left behind 14 distinctive hours of comedy.
Kelly Carlin stated in a number of posts on X that Sasso and Kultgen didn’t method her household to ask permission for his or her mission. She additional advised that Sasso regarded “worried” in a latest Instagram submit associated to the particular — and that he “should be.”
Representatives for Sasso and Kultgen didn’t instantly reply to HuffPost’s request for remark.
Kelly warned on X that AI expertise “will surely affect dead artists and their estates” for years to return — and even tagged some related names within the course of.
“Hey @zeldawilliams @MelRivers @GarryShandling we should talk,” she wrote, addressing the daughters of the late Robin Williams and Joan Rivers, in addition to the account of the deceased Garry Shandling. “They’re coming for you next.”
