Kelly Carlin Slams AI-Generated George Carlin Comedy Special: “No Machine Will Ever Replace His Genius”

Abid Rahman
·2 min read
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Kelly Carlin, the screenwriter, producer and daughter of legendary comedian George Carlin, has sharply criticized the release of a comedy special that uses an artificial intelligence-generated version of her late father.

On Tuesday, an hourlong special, titled George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead, appeared on the YouTube channel of Dudesy, a podcast hosted by Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen that mixes AI and comedy and is described as the “first of its kind media experiment.”

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In the special, the AI George Carlin, using the comedian’s signature style and cadence, narrates commentary to AI-generated images and tackles thoroughly modern topics such as Elon Musk, Twitter, Tesla, streaming services and AI itself, subjects that came to mainstream prominence long after George Carlin died in 2008.

After news broke of the AI-generated George Carlin special, Kelly Carlin took to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday to make clear the project had not been granted permission by the comedian’s family. In a statement, Kelly Carlin said that her father “spent a lifetime perfecting his craft from his very human life, brain and imagination” and that “no machine will ever replace [George Carlin’s] genius.” She decried the use of AI to “recreate a mind that will never exist again” and implored people to seek out George Carlin’s 14 specials.

In a follow-up post on X, Kelly Carlin thanked people for showing support to her statement and against the AI bot “that has arrogantly stepped over a line in the world of comedy today that will surely affect dead artists and their estates now.” Kelly Carlin also tweeted at Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda, Joan Rivers’ daughter Melissa and the official Garry Shandling account to talk about this issue, adding “They’re coming for you next.”

Below is Kelly Carlin’s full statement.

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 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.

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.

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