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The dead-celebrity industry thrives on this because AI brings new life to legacies like the one of Michael Jackson. The artist’s estate has grossed over US$2 billion since his death, although he had owed half a billion when he died. AI enables deceased artists to create new works, thus creating profitable opportunities for their estates.
This is an exclusive collaboration in which the estates of James Dean, Judy Garland, and Laurence Olivier collaborate with AI voice-cloning firm ElevenLabs. The companies will assist these legends with voicebooks and articles to let the fans experience the epic artwork of their favorite actors in fresh new ways.
Mark Roesler is an intellectual property lawyer who has dealt with over 30,000 celebrity deals, and he understands that the majority of earnings from deceased celebrities now come from intellectual property because, with modern technology, those assets can be monetized like never before. According to Roesler, estates can better monetize their legacies than ever.
For example, James Dean returns from the dead in Return to Eden, one of an unprecedented set of pioneering projects that prove the potential to create digital likenesses of deceased actors based on AI: a mix of machine learning and using legacy assets that were already prepared, and this stage is similar to when previous CGI techniques had used Paul Walker or Peter Cushing.
While some welcome change, others are skeptical debating over the ethical use of AI. Jeff Jampol works with estates of artists like Janis Joplin and has ruled out AI in the same niche, "I don't believe in reproducing voices of deceased artists." He believes an artist's legacy must stay unabridged.
ABBA Voyage co-producer Swana Gisla doesn't feel AI can so easily substitute the emotional rapport that comes with art. According to her, "Art can only come from human experience."
Testing the waters for these technologies, the future of projects like Elvis Evolution will bring new challenges to AI. Promising to become a biopic akin to no other, this will delve into recreating Elvis's actual performance, making use of in-depth, centuries-old archives coupled with AI techniques to capture a semblance of the King of Rock 'n' Roll.
