George Carlin estate, in lawsuit, alleges fake AI content is 'casual theft' of his work

Jan. 26 (UPI) -- George Carlin's estate is suing media company Dudesy and hosts Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen for alleged copyright violations over an AI-generated fake hour-long comedy special imitating Carlin's voice.

The suit says Carlin's copyrighted work and likeness were used without legal permission. A voice that sounds a lot like Carlin is used over AI-generated video.

The suit names Dudesy LLC and podcast hosts Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen as defendants. A voice sounding a lot like Carlin is used over AI-generated video.

Carlin's daughter, Kelly, wrote on X, "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."

The fake AI content called George Carlin: I'm Glad I'm Dead is from media company Dudesy and is still live on You Tube, where it has gotten nearly 500,000 hits.

The video includes AI audio that said, "I'm Dudesy, a comedy AI, and I'm excited to share my second hour-long comedy special with you! I'm calling it 'George Carlin: I'm Glad I'm Dead!' For the next hour I'll be doing my best George Carlin impersonation just like a human being would."

The Carlin estate's lawsuit against Dudesy alleges copyright infringement and said the AI-generated content is not a creative work, but "a piece of computer-generated clickbait that detracts from the value of Carlin's comedic work and harms his reputation."

The suit said the Dudesy video included an admission that Carlin's copyrighted material was used. A voice calling itself Dudesy, the suit said, stated "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."

The Dudesy fake AI video said at the beginning of it that AI created the content using five decades of Carlin's comedy performances, which are owned and copyrighted by the Carlin estate.

The suit said Dudesy "ingested five decades of Carlin's original standup comedy routines (to which plaintiffs own the copyright) into the training base of the artificial intelligence engine" thereby making unauthorized copies of the copyright works.

Use of AI content was a big issue in last year's strike by the actors and artists union SAG-AFTRA.