George Carlin Estate Threatens Legal Action Over AI Special

The Daily Beast ^ | January 11, 2024 | Sean L McCarthy

[Twotone]

George Carlin’s daughter and keeper of his estate, Kelly Carlin, isn’t laughing about a new AI-generated “special” of supposedly new material by her late father titled I’m Glad I’m Dead. As she posted Wednesday night on X: “ZERO PERMISSION GRANTED.”

Today she told The Daily Beast, “We’re having conversations with lawyers right now, so we’ll see what happens with that for us.”

Kelly Carlin has had to deal with strangers misattributing quotes to her father or misappropriating his work since the legendary comedian died in 2008, from fake quotes in memes to rumors of holograms and now AI-generated material in his name.

“Even when my dad was alive, on the front page of his website was this big announcement” disavowing any connection to the widely circulated essay “The Paradox Of Our Time,” as also debunked by Snopes. “My dad had it on the front page of his website. This is not me. This is not what I would ever say,” she said. “He poo-pooed it. So yes, he even dealt with it at the early stages of the internet.”

A ChatGPT prompt that went viral last March wondering what George Carlin would say about the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank made Kelly Carlin groan, “Just fucking shoot me.”

Dudesy’s George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead, released to YouTube on Tuesday, has generated more than 161,000 views, more than tripling its view count in the past 24 hours. Although the video starts with a disclaimer that “what you’re about to hear is not George Carlin,” claiming it’s merely an impersonation “like Will Ferrell impersonating George W. Bush,” Kelly Carlin begs to differ.

[Fuzz]

Good.

[TheDon]

I had assumed his estate was involved. Not sure what the people behind the project were thinking.

[Gaffer]

I’m wondering if he sold the rights to his persona or whatever.

[Qwapisking]

great test case for how far real humans will let fake humans go.