George Carlin's estate has filed a lawsuit against the creators behind an AI-generated comedy special featuring a recreation of the comedian's voice.

George Carlin Estate Files Lawsuit Against Group Behind AI-Generated Stand-Up Special: ‘A Casual Theft of a Great American Artist’s Work’::George Carlin’s estate has filed a lawsuit against the creators behind an AI-generated comedy special featuring a recreation of the comedian’s voice.

  • thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    125·
    11 months ago

    those the use ai for it, yes actually. in fact, if we’re following the letter of copyright law, almost every meme is technically illegal.

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      11 months ago

      This is the best argument I have ever heard for getting rid of copyright law. It can’t be followed even if you want to.

    • RealFknNito@lemmy.worldEnglish
      614·
      11 months ago

      Okay then let’s focus on impressionists. Grapple with that for a minute because you seem to be avoiding it. If someone does a stand-up special they wrote and did a highly accurate impression of George Carlin, why is that illegal?

      • thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        31·
        11 months ago

        I’m not trying to say what’s right or wrong it should out shouldn’t be. I’m just saying that if we apply copyright literally and aggressively there’s numerous things that we take for granted that would go away.

        • RealFknNito@lemmy.worldEnglish
          23·
          11 months ago

          It already is applied aggressively to the point things that are covered under the DMCA both for fair use and transformative content is ignored and claims are made anyway. This special didn’t exist and had to be created by the person who made it. Written by them. That’s such a significant change that using their voice, something that can be mimicked, seems inconsequential to the law.

          If someone can sing a cover of a Michael Jackson song and end up sounding exactly like Michael Jackson, is that copyright? Hell if someone wrote a brand new song and tried to sing it like Michael Jackson would and ends up being indistinguishable, is that illegal? This is the question that needs answering.

          • thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            11 months ago

            and it could still be worse… like i said, technically every single image macro is copyright infringement. and to your question, which I’m sorry, i don’t care about, it’s not what i was replying for, it really depends. performing another person’s song for money is actually a big deal and illegal. so yeah, in your example that’s a very very easy case. weird al is a great example of what you need to do to differentiate. cover bands are often a grey area, but can be gone after, it’s just often easy to get away with.