George Carlin Estate Files Publicity Rights Suit Over AI Routine

The estate of George Carlin sued a pair of podcasters for using artificial intelligence to create a script and voice imitating the late comedian for a new comedy routine, citing the right of publicity and copyright infringement.

Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen released their Carlin-based “I’m Glad I’m Dead” special on their Dudesy podcast on Jan. 9, the Thursday complaint in the US District Court for the Central District of California said. The defendants allegedly admitted to inputing thousands of hours of copyrighted Carlin material into an AI model to create the script and “fabricate a semblance of Carlin’s voice” ...