George Carlin‘s estate has settled a lawsuit over an AI-generated imitation of the late comedian, with the creators agreeing to remove it from their YouTube channel and podcast feed.

In January, the Dudesy podcast released “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead,” which purported to be an hour-long special created by artificial intelligence. Carlin died in 2008, but the special featured a sound-alike voice doing Carlin-esque material on contemporary topics like trans rights and defunding the police.

The estate sued, alleging that the special violated the estate’s copyrights and its publicity right to Carlin’s name, image and likeness.

  • wagesj45@kbin.run
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    7 months ago

    You shouldn’t own anything well after your death, including your likeness. By your logic we couldn’t make films about Cleopatra or use Shakespeare’s work.

    • Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz
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      7 months ago

      Hey if a fscking mouse can be copyrighted for 100 years, why shouldn’t the work of real people also be protected? Of course neither of the examples your cited would still have copyrights even under those extreme terms.

      • wagesj45@kbin.run
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        7 months ago

        I don’t think the Mouse should have that copyright either. I’m not a total copyright abolitionist, but the time needs to be much shorter like patents. And I think likenesses should fall into the same category.