Someday we ’ll move past the point where you may spend half an hour pump out an AI video and mother headlines . Sadly , we ’re not there yet . The latest slice of refuse from the AI ballyhoo machine amount in the form of an wildcat , “ AI - generated ” George Carlin comedy special — one that practically no one , not even hoi polloi involved with it , seems to like . It was apparently made without license from the belated comedian ’s family or any semblance of right taste , but here ’s the proficient part : it ’s not even exculpated how much of the special was in reality make with AI in the first place .
receive back to the Dumbest Tech News of the Week , Gizmodo ’s Monday column where we plunk into the best of the bad that technology has to extend . This week we ’re explore Dudesy , an AI drollery podcast and video channel run by comic Will Sasso , author Chad Kultgen , and a tech fellowship they resist to name . On Tuesday , Dudesy released the special , “ George Carlin : I ’m Glad I ’m Dead . ” Even Sasso and Kultgen seem uncomfortable with the project , and that ’s to say nothing of the multitudinous bad reviews and outrage from Carlin ’s home . In other Good Book : it ’s dumb .
“ It ’s ghoulish , ” said Carlin ’s girl Kelly Carlin in an interview with Gizmodo . “ drained people do n’t get to have a vote , and that ’s what ’s in particular disturbing to me about this . They ’re voting for him . They ’re decide that this is ok to do and it ’s a disrespect to his autonomy . It ’s a rape of his humanity and his personhood , and , of grade , his creative integrity . Ethically , it ’s the stinkiest move I could guess . ”
Screenshot: Dudesy / Gizmodo
The special open with an AI - generated vocalisation describe the study it did to create the special , as though the robot did the work itself .
“ My name is Dudesy , and I ’m a comedy AI , ” the voice says . “ 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 . I mind to all of George Carlin ’s textile and did my good to imitate his voice , meter , and attitude , as well as the subject matter I think would have interested him today . ”
It then launch into an time of day - long simulacrum of standup funniness in which a voice that sound a lot like George Carlin , who died in 2008 , entertains a pretend audience .
Screenshot: X / Gizmodo
Some commenters seem charmed by the standup special , but calling the reviews “ mixed ” would be generous . Dozens of journalist fired up Google Docs to take cheap shots at the AI Carlin ( can you image something so devalued ) but theloudest responsecame from the standup caption ’s daughter . Kelly Carlin tell Dudesy never contacted her or her Father-God ’s the three estates and told Gizmodo she ’s considering legal action .
“ He really hated hoi polloi putting words in his oral fissure , ” Kelly Carlin said . “ This affair is the most egregious possible version of that . ”
Back in 1999 , a kind of other text meme incorrectly attribute to George Carlin went viral over forwarded electronic mail subject matter . The maudlin essay , title “ The Paradox of Our Time in History , ” trouble the comedian so much he kepta statementexplaining that he did n’t write it on the front varlet of his website :
“ Most of this ‘ humour ’ on the net is just plain stupid , ” George Carlin wrote . “ I guess arduous - effect buff who follow my material closely would be able to spot the imitation stuff and nonsense because the tone of voice is so different . But a nonchalant sports fan has no way of knowing , and it bothers me that some people might believe I ’d actually be capable of writing some of this stuff . ”
You might imagine Dudesy ’s human companions would remain firm by its work , but Sasso and Kultgen start up distancing themselves from AI Carlin before it was even liberate .
“ I in person do n’t require to get wind a fucking Nirvana Sung that ’s not written by Kurt Cobain and played by hump Nirvana . It ’s not real and it does n’t matter . Anyone can do an impression , ” Sasso said onepisode 87 of the Dudesy podcast(available in both video recording and audio ) . “ Dudesy has consume every George Carlin special and has pulled off something miraculous , but it ’s not , by definition , new . It ’s taken from a bunch of other diddlysquat . ”
Sasso and Kultgen collaborate on the Dudesy projection with an unnamed tech company ; the pair say anon - revealing agreementprevents them from revealing the system ’s name . If you take the podcast at facial expression value , the company makes Dudesy ’s work severally and give it to the hosts without letting them know what ’s in memory board . On the podcast episode introducing AI Carlin , Sasso and Kultgen seem to be discover about the special for the first time .
“ Oh man , ” Sasso said , taking his head in his hands as Dudsey explain the Carlin labor . “ I do n’t bed what any of this means . ”
Sasso and Kultgen celebrate Dudesy , which they talk to as though it ’s live . But the two arevisibly uncomfortableabout the Carlin project and argue about whether the public will welcome the rising flood of AI art .
“ What about the next step ? Is Dudesy going to do its own hour of standup ? ” Kultgen asked . “ What about a fully AI standup comedian ? ”
“ Nobody gives a fuck about that , ” Sasso said .
There ’s no video to go along with the AI Carlin exceptional . you could watch it on YouTube , but it ’s just the fake Carlin ’s voice speaking over a slideshow of hastily - generated AI artistic production . And while the audio clear seems generated by an algorithm , the message itself raises head .
Dudesy suggests , in shadowy terms , that AI instrument made the special from top to bottom . Presumably , the fake words our hallucinated Carlin speak were sire with something likeChatGPT . But while large - voice communication models can bring forth implausibly convincing text edition , the whole thing feels a little too polished . The playscript does n’t have the earmark of AI authorship ; it seems a little too good to be true . Because the company behind Dudesy is some kind of weird secret , it ’s hard to say for sure .
We reached out to Sasso and Kultgen ’s representatives to ask just how much human intervention go into “ I ’m Glad I ’m stagnant . ” They did n’t respond .
In the special , the fake Carlin rail against conservatives , delves into the finer points of gun controller , trans rights , and Elon Musk , and , predictably , discusses the futurity of artificial intelligence operation . It sound a lot like the kind of thing Carlin might say if he were live and on level in 2024 . Carlin ’s presumptively simulated voice tells us it ’s the first comedian to be brought back from the stagnant , but it sure wo n’t be the last . It goes on to suggest that AI is the future tense of standup and , in straight Carlin form , says we should n’t be so cute about the whole thing . That ’s a debate deserving having , but one matter ’s for sure : this Carlin special is n’t very funny .
“ If I ca n’t be precious about his case-by-case existence then I do n’t know what we ’re gon na do as a coinage , ” Kelly Carlin said . “ Of course , people get too precious about fine art and thing like that , but George Carlin did not drop a line or perform this thing , so take his name off of it . It can be ‘ inspired by , ’ or ‘ an homage to , ’ or ‘ Carlin - esque , ’ or ‘ in the elan of . ’ Call it something else , and then I do nt give a shit . Standup is a lived human experience . certainly , a lot of people check it on TV , but the standup comic has to leave behind their house and go to a field of operations to do the work , and it postulate a resilient audience to respond to it . An AI consultation laughing at an AI thing is another art grade . ”
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