Posted on 01/13/2024 10:47:13 AM PST by Red Badger
George Carlin’s daughter has criticized an artificial intelligence-generated voice of her comedian father used for an hourlong standup comedy special based on his catalog of work.
“My dad spent a lifetime perfecting his craft from his very human life, brain and imagination,” Kelly Carlin said on X. “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 added that his work should “speak for itself.”
“Humans are so afraid of the void that we can’t let what has fallen into it stay there,” she said.
The artificial intelligence platform called Dudesy generated the simulation of how the comedian might address contemporary issues.
The special, titled “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead,” was released on Jan. 9.
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“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 that I developed in the exact same way a human impressionist would,” the AI-generated voice of Dudesy said at the beginning of the special. “I listened to all of George Carlin’s material and did my best to imitate his voice, cadence, and attitude as well as the subject matter I think would have interested him today.”
Anti-Establishment Themes
Mr. Carlin, who died of heart failure in 2008, often spoke of anti-establishment themes throughout the body of his comedic work.
“Think of it like Andy Kaufman impersonating Elvis, or like Will Ferrell impersonating George W. Bush,” the AI voice said.
Upon introducing itself, the AI voice of Mr. Carlin apologized for taking so long to come out with new material.
“But I had a pretty good excuse,” it said. “I was dead.”
The voice went on to criticize religion and the gun rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment, blaming mass shootings on the ability of Americans to be able to purchase guns easily.
“Things are starting to come apart at the seams so they’re taking as much of your money as they can, while they still can,” the voice said. “Make no mistake, guns ain’t nothing but a federally sanctioned cash grab, plain and simple. You give your money to Smith & Wesson and Smith & Wesson gives it to the politicians. The politicians write laws to make guns easier to sell so you can give even more of your money to Smith & Wesson.”
In addition, the voice criticized American preoccupation with pop culture such as reality television.
“Film and television used to be art by artists that wanted to challenge us about the world and our place in it,” it said. “Now it’s content made by corporations that don’t want anyone thinking about anything.”
The voice said it was glad it was dead because the country elected a reality television star as its president, pointing to former President Donald Trump’s competition reality show “The Apprentice.”
“And at this point, the election is just another [expletive] reality show on one of their overpriced streaming services,” it said. “If you don’t believe me, take a look at your two, I repeat, two choices in this next election. Shouldn’t a country of 300 million ethnically and ideologically diverse people have more options than two rich, senile, dishonest, out-of-touch, 80-year-old white guys?”
The voice added, in Mr. Carlin’s style, that the country has a two-party system because it’s cheaper for billionaires to monopolize.
“You think you are voting for the lesser of two evils, but you are always voting for the same evil: money,” it said. AI-Generated Carlin Supports Woke Culture The voice criticized the conservative stance on several issues in relation to the culture wars and defended LGBT rights. It celebrated the Black Lives Matter riots in 2020 while criticizing the protests at the U.S. Capitol. “Every major city in the country was on fire,” the voice said. “People were openly fighting cops in the streets,” it said, later adding that “getting rid of the cops” is a step closer to “building a better society.”
The voice referred to itself as an AI-generated entity and ridiculed the public’s fear of losing their jobs to this technology.
“Seems that many of you are scared of AI, and I’ll be honest, I don’t really get why,” it said. “You all think it’s going to replace your jobs and you somehow think that’s a bad thing. When did everybody all of a sudden start liking their jobs? When I was alive people hated their [expletive] jobs. They complained about them all the time.”
If there were one profession that was threatened by AI, it would be standup comedy, the voice said.
“I might be the first standup comic to be brought back from the dead by AI but I’m certainly not the last,” it said before alluding to a future of streaming services for deceased comedians to comment on current affairs.
Instead of listening to the AI-generated voice of her father, Ms. Carlin said it would be better to give living comedians a try.
“But if you want to listen to the genuine George Carlin, he has 14 specials that you can find anywhere,” she said.
https://twitter.com/technologypoet/status/1745836032770056245
Saw him in Person...Such talent can NOT be bottled.
Garbage in....garbage out.
Meaningless but Carlin bought a house owned by the parents of a friend, Eddie Evans, on the East Rd in Saddle River. He was one of the greatest.
I’ve wondered if anyone will try mounting copyright/intellectual property challenges to this stuff; or if they even can.
Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.
The day will come when actors are an expensive annoying superfluous commodity when it comes to movie making and they’ll be discarded. I won’t miss them!
There have been, and are, some great actors. They can’t be replaced by AI.
“Things are starting to come apart at the seams so they’re taking as much of your money as they can, while they still can,” the voice said. “Make no mistake, guns ain’t nothing but a federally sanctioned cash grab, plain and simple. You give your money to Smith & Wesson and Smith & Wesson gives it to the politicians. The politicians write laws to make guns easier to sell so you can give even more of your money to Smith & Wesson.”
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I don’t recall Carlin ever being anti-constitutional. This ain’t even funny. Not like Carlin at all.
The real evil here is that the AI can make “Carlin” say things the real Carlin never would have said. Sure, there’s a disclaimer at the start. But most people will forget about the disclaimer, and just remember what they heard.
Should this even be legal? Doesn’t someone own the rights to Carlin’s work and his image? I don’t know. But I do know this isn’t morally right.
The story is the thing the actor is an accessory.
I grant you a great actor can sort of save a bad story. However, it’s not common. Probably not worth being your investment on. Anyway Hollyweird has lost the ability to write a good story! I doubt if AI can save them there.
I don’t think I ever heard that full quote. And after reading some of the AI dialogue - this ain’t even mediocre.
It ain’t funny. Daughter has a right to be mad.
I dunno ... I listened to it and didn’t think it sounded like Carlin at all.
I never found him funny.
Same with Andy Kaufman
I heard an AI rendition of Art Bell a while back. Those of us who liked his show know his sound very well. The AI sounded remarkably like him superficially, but you could tell it wasn’t him - the cadence, intonation, etc., were ‘off’.
“I might be the first standup comic to be brought back from the dead by AI but
I’m certainly not the last,”...
~~~~~~~
...it said while in the guise of a trusted soul, it tries to program US with
divisive leftist nonsense.
And THAT is what they will be used for, to control the narratives and decide
the next elections, from all digital fronts, feeds, and search results, 24/7,
forever and ever, amen.
Whoever can wield the most brutally effective AI tools, wins.
(Short of divine intervention.)
We may not think it be that way, but...
It is now just all too...
~Easy
Great actors can illuminate a great story, too, and make it even more powerful.
But I’ll agree that AI can’t help with the almost complete dearth of creativity in Hollywood today.
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