Results: George Carlin estate sues over fake comedy special purportedly generated by AI

The estate of George Carlin is suing the media company behind a fake hourlong comedy special that purportedly uses artificial intelligence to recreate the late standup comic's style and material. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday asks that a judge order the podcast outlet Dudesy to immediately take down the audio special, "George Carlin: I'm Glad I'm Dead," in which a synthesis of Carlin delivers commentary on current events. Carlin died in 2008. At the beginning of the special posted on YouTube on Jan. 9, a voiceover identifying itself as the AI engine used by Dudesy says it listened to the comic's 50 years of 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 plaintiffs say if that was in fact how it was created — and some listeners have doubted its stated origins — it means Carlin's copyright was violated. Do you agree this is a copyright infringement?

Nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes of Taylor Swift went viral on X on Wednesday, amassing over 27 million views and more than 260,000 likes in 19 hours before the account that posted the images was suspended. Deepfakes portraying Swift nude and in sexual scenarios continue to proliferate on X, including reposts of the viral deepfake images. Such images can be generated with AI tools that develop entirely new, fake images, or they can be created by taking a real image and "undressing" it with AI tools. Does the ability of people to use AI to create deepfakes, including in sexual scenarios, worry you?"

Do you believe that, in light of the increasing prevalence and potential misuse of deepfakes and advancements in AI technology, there is a pressing need for legal frameworks and regulations to address and govern the ethical and responsible use of such technologies?