George Carlin’s Daughter Denounces AI Simulation of His Comedy

Comedian George Carlin poses as he promotes his new book "All My Stuff" at Barnes and Noble in Los Angeles, Calif., on Dec. 11, 2007. Mark Mainz/Getty Images

George Carlin’s daughter has criticized an artificial intelligence-generated voice of her comedian father used for an hourlong standup comedy special based on his catalog of work.

“My dad spent a lifetime perfecting his craft from his very human life, brain and imagination,” Kelly Carlin said on X. “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.”

She added that his work should “speak for itself.”

“Humans are so afraid of the void that we can’t let what has fallen into it stay there,” she said.

The artificial intelligence platform called Dudesy generated the simulation of how the comedian might address contemporary issues.

The special, titled “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead,” was released on Jan. 9.

“I just want to let you know very clearly that 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,” the AI-generated voice of Dudesy said at the beginning of the special. “I listened to all of George Carlin’s 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.”

Anti-Establishment Themes

Mr. Carlin, who died of heart failure in 2008, often spoke of anti-establishment themes throughout the body of his comedic work.

“Think of it like Andy Kaufman impersonating Elvis, or like Will Ferrell impersonating George W. Bush,” the AI voice said.

Upon introducing itself, the AI voice of Mr. Carlin apologized for taking so long to come out with new material.

“But I had a pretty good excuse,” it said. “I was dead.”

The voice went on to criticize religion and the gun rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment, blaming mass shootings on the ability of Americans to be able to purchase guns easily.

“Things are starting to come apart at the seams so they’re taking as much of your money as they can, while they still can,” the voice said. “Make no mistake, guns ain’t nothing but a federally sanctioned cash grab, plain and simple. You give your money to Smith & Wesson and Smith & Wesson gives it to the politicians. The politicians write laws to make guns easier to sell so you can give even more of your money to Smith & Wesson.”

In addition, the voice criticized American preoccupation with pop culture such as reality television.

“Film and television used to be art by artists that wanted to challenge us about the world and our place in it,” it said. “Now it’s content made by corporations that don’t want anyone thinking about anything.”

The voice said it was glad it was dead because the country elected a reality television star as its president, pointing to former President Donald Trump’s competition reality show “The Apprentice.”

“And at this point, the election is just another [expletive] reality show on one of their overpriced streaming services,” it said. “If you don’t believe me, take a look at your two, I repeat, two choices in this next election. Shouldn’t a country of 300 million ethnically and ideologically diverse people have more options than two rich, senile, dishonest, out-of-touch, 80-year-old white guys?”

The voice added, in Mr. Carlin’s style, that the country has a two-party system because it’s cheaper for billionaires to monopolize.

“You think you are voting for the lesser of two evils, but you are always voting for the same evil: money,” it said.

AI-Generated Carlin Supports Woke Culture

The voice criticized the conservative stance on several issues in relation to the culture wars and defended LGBT rights. It celebrated the Black Lives Matter riots in 2020 while criticizing the protests at the U.S. Capitol.

“Every major city in the country was on fire,” the voice said. “People were openly fighting cops in the streets,” it said, later adding that “getting rid of the cops” is a step closer to “building a better society.”

The voice referred to itself as an AI-generated entity and ridiculed the public’s fear of losing their jobs to this technology.

“Seems that many of you are scared of AI, and I’ll be honest, I don’t really get why,” it said. “You all think it’s going to replace your jobs and you somehow think that’s a bad thing. When did everybody all of a sudden start liking their jobs? When I was alive people hated their [expletive] jobs. They complained about them all the time.”

If there were one profession that was threatened by AI, it would be standup comedy, the voice said.

“I might be the first standup comic to be brought back from the dead by AI but I’m certainly not the last,” it said before alluding to a future of streaming services for deceased comedians to comment on current affairs.

Instead of listening to the AI-generated voice of her father, Ms. Carlin said it would be better to give living comedians a try.

“But if you want to listen to the genuine George Carlin, he has 14 specials that you can find anywhere,” she said.