Posted in: TV | Tagged: ai, artificial intelligence, george carlin, Kelly Carlin, will sasso

George Carlin Estate Draws Legal "Line in the Sand," Suing AI Special

Kelly Carlin explains why the George Carlin estate is suing Dudesy over its recent AI-generated comedy special featuring the late comedian.

As the daughter of George Carlin, Kelly Carlin is always on guard when it comes to protecting his legacy, like how Shannon Lee does the same for her legendary father, Bruce Lee – earning the younger Carlin praise from his fans. As several comedians have been influenced by George's work, one company Dudesy, a comedy AI took it one step further and generated a special absorbing decades of the actor-comedian's work to create George Carlin: I'm Glad I'm Dead, 15 years after his passing in 2008. Now, Kelly has announced that George Carlin's estate intends to take legal action.

George Carlin Estate Takes Action Against AI-Special Creators

"The irony of all of this is that my father was such a unique thinker," Carlin told The Hollywood Reporter. "One thing he said to people is 'Think for yourself,' and here are these people absorbing his material to try and think like him. It's the ultimate zombification of a human life." The lawsuit was filed in California federal court on Thursday, accusing the creators of creating the special without consent or compensation for using George Carlin's body of work – consisting of five decades of comedy routines to train an AI chatbot, which wrote the episode's script. It also takes issue with using his voice and likeness for promotional purposes.

The complaint seeks a court order for immediate removal of the special, as well as unspecified damages. It's among the first legal actions taken by the estate of a deceased celebrity for unlicensed use of their work and likeness to manufacture a new, AI-generated creation. The move comes as Hollywood continues its battle over the increased use of AI to make sure that individuals are being given the chance to offer proper consent and be respectfully compensated for it. "We have to draw a line in the sand." Carlin said, "This is going to be a fight on every front, with entertainment at the center."

The Dudesy podcast (hosted by Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen) YouTube Channel tags the special as being a "first of its kind media experiment." The complaint continued, "In short, Defendants sought to capitalize on the name, reputation, and likeness of George Carlin in creating, promoting, and distributing the Dudesy Special and using generated images of Carlin, Carlin's voice, and images designed to evoke Carlin's presence on a stage." In response to a possible First Amendment defense, the suit continues, stating that the special "has no comedic or creative value absent its self-proclaimed connection with George Carlin" and does not, for example, "satirize him as a performer or offer an independent critique of society."

While the special was not monetized through advertisements, the suit claims that its creators looked to boost their profiles with the episode. "If more people saw Dudesy's content based on Defendants' exploitation of George Carlin's name, likeness, and copyrighted works, then more people would see advertisements, would hear the paid sponsorships read during the Dudesy podcast episodes, and would have an opportunity to click through the hyperlinks to buy the Defendants' merchandise and subscribe to Dudesy+," the complaint states. "In turn, the audience for Dudesy's offerings would grow, which itself would attract more sponsors."

Jerry Hamza, George Carlin's long-time manager and executive of the comedian's estate, helped present the case. "In order to accomplish what they did, they needed to, without permission, take a reputation, a body of work, a voice, and a likeness and use it to draw attention to themselves," he said. "It raises issues of civil and criminal liability under both California and federal statutes regulating rights of publicity and copyright." For more, including more of Kelly's comments on the special and pending legislation that may bring protections against AI-created images that may deceive the viewer to imply endorsement, especially if consent wasn't given, you can check the piece here.

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