Kelly Carlin — daughter of the late standup comedian George Carlin — has spoken out against a new hour-long special that uses artificial intelligence to mimic her father.
George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead was shared to YouTube this week by a comedy AI called Dudesy, who introduces the special with a disclaimer that it’s an “impersonation of George Carlin that I developed in the exact same way a human impressionist would,” in the vein of “Andy Kaufman impersonating Elvis or like Will Ferrell impersonating George W. Bush.”
“My dad spent a lifetime perfecting his craft from his very human life, brain and imagination,” Kelly wrote in a Twitter thread Wednesday night. “No machine will ever replace his genius. These AI generated products are clever attempts at trying to recreate a mind that will never exist again. Let’s let the artist’s work speak for itself. Humans are so afraid of the void that we can’t let what has fallen into it stay there.”
Though Carlin died of heart failure in 2008, Dudesy clarified that the special was intended to bring up topics that “would have interested him today,” including some particularly relevant hot-button topics like the US class divide, social media, streaming platforms, and yes, even AI itself.
Kelly continued: “Here’s an idea, how about we give some actual living human comedians a listen to? But if you want to listen to the genuine George Carlin, he has 14 specials that you can find anywhere.”
Meanwhile, AI-generated Carlin weighed in during the special: “There’s one line of work that is most threatened by AI — one job that is most likely to be completely erased because of artificial intelligence: stand-up comedy. I know what all the stand-up comics across the globe are saying right now: ‘I’m an artist and my art form is too creative, too nuanced, too subtle to be replicated by a machine. No computer program can tell a fart joke as good as me.’”
You can watch George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead and see Kelly’s response below.
In 2022, Carlin was the subject of a documentary by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio. The comedian joins an ever-growing batch of late icons whose voices have been replicated with AI in recent months, including Edith Piaf and Jimmy Stewart.
My statement regarding the AI generated George Carlin special: My dad spent a lifetime perfecting his craft from his very human life, brain and imagination. No machine will ever replace his genius. These AI generated products are clever attempts at trying to recreate a mind…1/3
— Kelly Carlin (@kelly_carlin) January 11, 2024