The late comedian George Carlin was the inspiration for a recent “AI Resurrection” stunt. The effort produced a new audio comedy internet recording accompanied by AI generated images.
Here comes a podcast that is snowballing in audience, success and controversy. The podcast is called Dudesy.
Dudesy is a clever podcast wherein a couple of goofy guys get high and make jokes, but with the kicker that Dudesy is supposedly a podcast powered by A.I.
Imagine a future where you are never really dead, because trans-humanist, chip brained robo-people want to keep your image, your voice, and your mannerisms around for their amusement. This is like a Klaus Schwab fantasy. In the here and now we can have AI perform a very convincing impression of the dead.
Apparently the Dudesy AI was unleashed on all of George Carlin’s existing material as training data. From that data, the AI could mimic Carlin’s voice, material, rhythm and delivery.
In a type of disclaimer, the AI preamble to the AI George Carlin replica, the AI makes the comparison that it is performing the same function that a human comedian would use when doing impressions. The AI Carlin “Show” is called “I’m glad I’m Dead”. It is on Youtube.
The claim is that the Dudesy podcast is written by AI, which bears some examination. Dudesy lampoons famous celebrities and has it’s own niche memes including themes on impersonations, wrestlers, fake (AI generated) movies, and some really off the wall content that apparently comes from AI. In addition, the two hosts augment the AI generated content with their own personalities and commentary with some chuckle points.
Previously, the AI (and guys) over at Dudesy created a fake AI comedy special with a Tom Brady simulated voice performing jokes that inter-wove football, pop culture, and comedy. The result was something like a 2 hour long AI comedy special.
In addition to Tom Brady, the Dudesy guys lampoon Tom Hanks, Oprah and Miley Cyrus among other celebrities. I think that is fine, but if those celebrities thought that an AI produced comedy simulated likeness was some sort of damaging content, they could sue for those damages.
While there is some entertainment happening here, people ultimately recognize this stuff is fake. Now, as a society, we are facing a future that will be overpopulated with material that is fast, fake, and free. In that context, I think the response will be a human demand for authenticity. I recently read a prediction that within 3 years, the internet will be totally filled with AI generated garbage.
The proposition of the internet being filled with an ocean of fake news, means that soon the internet, itself, will be far less trustworthy and less useful than it already is.
One should contemplate if, the AI generated, fake Tom Hanks movies are better or worse than actual Hollywood produced movies. My opinion is that the AI generated movie plots could easily give the Hollywood writers a run for their money. I independently came to that conclusion and I suppose that means that the Hollywood writers strike over AI takeover is somewhat well founded.
Were Hollywood writers so talented to begin with or will the consumption-oriented public simply settle for a diet of brain-drivel once more? We may have to choose between garbage from Hollywood, or garbage from AI.
The podcast spawned tremendous controversy when they used the same Tom Brady comedy formula of prompts to have the AI generate a full George Carlin comedy special.
Now making fun of existing celebrities, I think, is completely fair game, and very funny.
It is probably unethical to force the likeness of dead celebrities to continue to perform to satisfy the whims of living.
The objections to the Carlin AI knock-off, not only come from Carlin’s family, but journalists, and predictably, Hollywood writers as well.
This is reminiscent of the Victorian Era fascination with holding seances. I don’t think that produced any good outcomes either.
Personally, I side with George Carlin’s family. Let the dead rest in peace, and if the AI necromancy continues, then we should put priests in charge of AI Ethics to reign in the temptations of the unholy.