A new comedy special starts with the quote, “I’m sorry it took me so long to come out with new material, but I do have a pretty good excuse. I was dead.”

The voice sounds like comedian George Carlin, but that would be impossible, as Carlin died in 2008. The voice in the special is actually generated by an artificial intelligence (AI).

“This is not my father. It’s so ghoulish. It’s so creepy,” Carlin’s daughter, Kelly Carlin-McCall, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

The YouTube account Dudesy, which is described as a podcast, artificial intelligence and “first of its kind media experiment,” released the hour-long special on Jan. 9. CBC reached out to the producers of Dudesy and its co-host Will Sasso for comment, but did not get a response.

Sasso and co-host Chad Kultgen say they can’t reveal the company behind the AI due to a non-disclosure agreement, according to Vice. The channel launched in March 2022.

Carlin-McCall said the channel never reached out to the family or asked for permission to use her father’s likeness. She says her father took great pride in the thought and effort he put into writing his material.

  • FaceDeer
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    210 months ago

    Right, @gAlienLifeform is playing word games, not the guy who’s arguing that impersonating a dead guy is equivalent to “slavery.”

    • gregorum
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      010 months ago

      when you accuse me of things i never said, that’s all the proof necessary that you’re arguing in bad faith.

      • FaceDeer
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        110 months ago

        Follow this subthread back up to the top, that’s what this is all about. Someone called this “posthumous digital slavery” and I called them out on the ridiculousness of calling it “slavery.” All this quibbling about what “labor” means is part of an attempt to justify using that ludicrous term. Maybe you should pay more attention to which side of an argument you’re jumping in on before arguing so vigorously for it?

        • gregorum
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          10 months ago

          it sounds like you’re the one who should pay more attention and follow that thread back up an hit reply there instead of accusing me of saying something someone else said and argue with them instead.

          lol

          • FaceDeer
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            010 months ago

            I did hit reply there. I wrote the first response to the comment that called this “posthumous digital slavery.” That was me up there. I’ve been here from the beginning.

            • gregorum
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              10 months ago

              yes, I see where you first went wrong. no need to repeat that mistake here by blaming me for something someone else said. as you can clearly see: I never mentioned slavery, so, off you go back to that discussion.

              ta-ta!