Comic’s estate sues over fake show allegedly created by AI
LOS ANGELES — The estate of George Carlin is suing the media company behind a fake hourlong comedy special that purportedly uses artificial intelligence to re-create the late stand-up comic’s style and material.
The lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles asks that a judge order the podcast outlet Dudesy to take down the audio special, “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead,” in which a synthesis of Carlin delivers commentary on current events. Carlin died in 2008. Carlin’s daughter, Kelly Carlin, said the work is “a poorly- executed facsimile cobbled together by unscrupulous individuals to capitalize on the extraordinary goodwill my father established with his adoring fan base.”
The Carlin estate and its executor, Jerold Hamza, are named as plaintiffs in the suit, which alleges violations of Carlin’s right of publicity and copyright. The named defendants are Dudesy and podcast hosts Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen.
“None of the Defendants had permission to use Carlin’s likeness for the AI-generated ‘George Carlin Special,’ nor did they have a license to use any of the late comedian’s copyrighted materials,” the lawsuit says.
The defendants have not filed a response to the lawsuit, and it was not clear whether they have retained an attorney. They could not immediately be reached for comment.
At the beginning of the special posted Jan. 9 on YouTube, a voice-over identifying itself as the AI engine used by Dudesy says it listened to the comic’s 50 years of 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.”
The plaintiffs say if that was in fact how the special was created — and some listeners have doubted its stated origins — it means Carlin’s copyright was violated.
The company, as it often does on similar projects, also released a podcast episode with Sasso and Kultgen introducing and commenting on the mock Carlin.
“What we just listened to, was that passable?” Kultgen asks in a section of the episode cited in the lawsuit.
“Yeah, that sounded exactly like George Carlin,” Sasso responds.
The lawsuit is among the first in what is likely to be an increasing number of major legal moves made to fight the regenerated use of celebrity images and likenesses.
The AI issue was a significant sticking point in the resolution of last year’s writers and actors strikes in the entertainment industry.
Josh Schiller, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the “case is not just about AI, it’s about the humans that use AI to violate the law, infringe on intellectual property rights, and flout common decency.”