Unmasking the Controversy: AI generated Comedy Show Impersonating George Carlin
An AI generated comedy show featuring a fake George Carlin has surprised fans, highlighting the impressive abilities of AI to mimic voices. Carlin’s estate is taking legal action against the video’s creators and demanding its removal.
The hour-long video was created by a fictional AI podcast host named Dudesy, claiming to pay homage to George Carlin’s comedic style. While the video was technically well-made, it made people uneasy and was produced using an AI trained on Carlin’s published material.
Naturally, George Carlin’s daughter was upset by the video, and his estate is now suing the cohosts and creators of Dudesy, Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen. They argue that using Carlin’s material without permission amounted to copyright infringement and violated Carlin’s right to control his image.
In response to the lawsuit, it was revealed that the show was not actually written by an AI model. A spokesperson, Danielle Del, clarified that Dudesy was a fictional character created by humans, specifically Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen. The YouTube video titled “I’m Glad I’m Dead” was entirely written by Chad Kultgen.
The crucial question now is whether Dudesy genuinely authored the jokes, which would represent a significant advancement in AI humor, or if it was all crafted by a human. This aspect is pivotal to the legal argument.
This lawsuit resembles others involving AI, such as those related to OpenAI, Meta, and Stability AI. The central issue is whether it constitutes copyright infringement when AI models are trained on copyrighted material or if it falls under fair use.
Interestingly, if a human Carlin fan had listened to all his shows and then performed a great impression of him on stage, there would be no legal issue, even if they charged an audience to watch, as long as they didn’t use Carlin’s name for marketing.
The reason this case ended up in court is because an AI allegedly learned from Carlin’s work and managed to convincingly imitate him.
Dudesy LLC, the company behind the show, now claims that it was not written by AI but by a human who was inspired by Carlin’s work. The lawsuit disputes this, arguing that the AI model’s unauthorized use of Carlin’s entire body of work is not the same as how a “human impressionist” would create a work inspired by Carlin.
It would be interesting to see if the defendants bring in neuromorphic computer scientists to argue their case.
This situation has many gray areas, making it difficult to predict whether a judge will rule against a free speech argument. For now, the video has been set to private on YouTube, and we’ll have to wait and see if a takedown notice is eventually issued by the judge.
