Has the AI dead celebs trend gone too far?

AI is capable of some pretty amazing things and the technology is rapidly advancing. However, the most recent online trend, which uses AI, is facing some backlash.

It involves the ‘resurrection’ of deceased celebrities in some bizarre and unexpected situations, including basketball legend Kobe Bryant ‘arguing with an ice cream man’ and former Beatle John Lennon ‘buying tea in a supermarket’.

So how are these videos being generated? And are they just a bit of harmless fun, or has the trend backfired?

What is the deceased AI celebs trend on socials?

Videos that have appeared recently include one of the late King of Pop Michael Jackson nabbing a box of chicken nuggets from a fast food restaurant, and another of the legendary singer Amy Winehouse, who died in 2011 doing a makeup tutorial. But whilst these videos have been raking up millions of views on TikTok, there have been calls about whether they are ethical.

While there have been cases of the voice, or likeness, of dead celebrities being generated using AI in movies, music and gaming, these occurrences will usually have the permission from the family and estate of the deceased, whereas the videos currently appearing on socials won't have the same approval.

Zelda Williams is the daughter of Robin Williams, who was a comedian and the star of Aladdin and Jumanji. Williams died in 2014, but has featured in many of the AI videos, which has caused Zelda to question the ethics of the trend. Zelda posted on her Instagram stories "Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad", she continued, "If you've got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop. It's dumb, it's a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it's NOT what he'd want."

What is Sora 2 and how are these videos made?

The videos of celebrity resurrections have been made possible with the recent release of the Sora 2 model. Sora is a realistic video generation tool created by OpenAI, the company behind the gen AI chatbot ChatGPT. While it may be possible to create similar content using other apps, Sora appears to be the main source used for these videos. In the last week TikTok has been inundated with AI content made using Sora, and there are now more than 400k posts using the hashtag #Sora.

The Sora app is currently only available in the USA and Canada, however you can still view content made with it in the UK when users share the videos on platforms like TikTok.

Sora 2 uses text prompts to create realistic videos, and while there are restrictions in place to stop you creating content featuring living celebrities, the app will allow you to create AI videos featuring historical figures.

Responsibility is one of the key priorities for the Sora team, especially when it comes to protecting the wellbeing of teenagers. The team have put in place default limits about how much content teens can see per day in their feed. They are also rolling out stricter permissions for teenagers on using cameos, which is the ability to drop yourself straight into any Sora scene.

What does the law say about the use of celebrities in AI?

The rules around using the likeness of famous people who are alive is more strict, with OpenAI banning the use of them within Sora. OpenAI initially allowed AI-generated videos featuring deceased celebrities, however, they released a statement on 8 October stating: “While there are strong free speech interests in depicting historical figures, we believe that public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used."

For public figures who are recently deceased, OpenAI states that authorised representatives or owners of their estate can request that their likeness not be used in Sora cameos. This has led to the removal of content featuring Michael Jackson after his estate reportedly filed a copyright claim against OpenAI.

In the UK copyright law protects a person's works, such as books they've written or films they've directed for up to 70 years after their death, but this doesn't apply to likenesses of people.

You can find out how to spot AI images on social media here.

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