Sadly, were not there yet.
On Tuesday, Dudesy released the special, George Carlin: Im Glad Im Dead.
In other words: its dumb.
Screenshot: Dudesy / Gizmodo
Its ghoulish, said Carlins daughter Kelly Carlin in an interview with Gizmodo.
Dead people dont get to have a vote, and thats whats particularly disturbing to me about this.
Theyre voting for him.
Screenshot: X / Gizmodo
Theyre deciding that this is ok to do and its a disrespect to his autonomy.
Its a violation of his humanity and his personhood, and, of course, his creative integrity.
Ethically, its the stinkiest move I could imagine.
My name is Dudesy, and Im a comedy AI, the voice says.
What youre about to hear is not George Carlin.
Its my impersonation of George Carlin that I developed in the exact same way a human impressionist would.
The crudely generated sounds of an artificial audience roar in laughter and applause.
Some commenters seem charmed by the standup special, but calling the reviews mixed would be generous.
Kelly Carlin said Dudesy never contacted her or her fathers estate and told Gizmodo shes considering legal action.
He really hated people putting words in his mouth, Kelly Carlin said.
This thing is the most egregious possible version of that.
Its not real and it doesnt matter.
Its taken from a bunch of other shit.
Oh man, Sasso said, taking his head in his hands as Dudsey explained the Carlin project.
I dont know what any of this means.
Sasso and Kultgen celebrate Dudesy, which they talk to as though its alive.
What about the next step?
Is Dudesy going to do its own hour of standup?
What about a fully AI standup comedian?
Nobody gives a fuck about that, Sasso said.
Theres no video to go along with the AI Carlin special.
And while the audio clearly seems generated by an algorithm, the content itself raises questions.
Dudesy suggests, in vague terms, that AI tools made the special from top to bottom.
Presumably, the fake words our hallucinated Carlin speaks were generated with something likeChatGPT.
But while large-language models can produce incredibly convincing text, the whole thing feels a little too polished.
The script doesnt have the hallmarks of AI authorship; it seems a little too good to be true.
Because the company behind Dudesy is some kind of weird secret, its hard to say for sure.
Thats a debate worth having, but one things for sure: this Carlin special isnt very funny.
It can be inspired by, or an homage to, or Carlin-esque, or in the style of.
Call it something else, and then I dont give a shit.
Standup is a lived human experience.
An AI audience laughing at an AI thing is another art form.
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