Anthony Bourdain Documentary Deepfakes His Voice From AI, And It’s Unsettling
Image via Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com
The upcoming documentary about Anthony Bourdain has stirred up controversy on social media for its use of artificial intelligence (AI) to bring the acclaimed chef, author, and travel documentarian “back to life.”
Morgan Neville, one of the filmmakers behind Roadrunner, revealed in an interview with The New Yorker that he had created an AI model of Bourdain’s voice. In one instance, ‘Bourdain’ could be heard reading an email sent by the celebrity chef himself.
“My life is sort of s**t now,” the AI was recorded to say, reading out an email directed at artist David Choe. “You are successful, and I am successful, and I’m wondering, are you happy?”
However, some viewers have expressed questions about the ethical nature of such a model, describing it as “unsettling” and “grotesque,” as per The Wrap.
“There were three quotes there I wanted his voice for that there were no recordings of. If you watch the film, other than that line you mentioned, you probably don’t know what the other lines are that were spoken by the AI, and you’re not going to know,” Neville said to writer Helen Rosner.
Rosner tweeted about the experience, clarifying that the Bourdain estate had agreed to the use of the AI voice model, but said it was “ethically… fascinating.”
And it definitely is, Neville himself had expected some pushback on his use of AI, saying: “We can have a documentary-ethics panel about it later.”
Users on Twitter quickly shared their views, with some saying it was “gross” and “creepy,” while many more questioned the ethics behind the project. Take a look at some of the responses below.
This IS very ethically...fascinating. The transcript of this part of our convo is a lot of me going "wait, WHAT? Really? Are you serious?" (FWIW, Neville told me they made the A.I. with full green-light from Bourdain's estate.) https://t.co/B7xepmU0i3
— Helen Rosner (@hels) July 15, 2021
"We can have a documentary ethics panel about it later" or we can be horrified now, because this is gross https://t.co/hO1vz4acq8
— (((Rachel Sklar))) ❄️ (@rachelsklar) July 15, 2021
What feels creepy about this though is the lack of consent. Whereas some actors may now have the option today to consent to having their voice reanimated when they're gone, it really doesn't sound like Anthony Bourdain got that luxury.
— Karen Hao (@_KarenHao) July 15, 2021
Anthony Bourdain would have absolutely hated this. https://t.co/ooBoFxQdKi
— Adam Herman (@AdamZHerman) July 15, 2021
When I wrote my review I was not aware that the filmmakers had used an A.I. to deepfake Bourdain’s voice for portions of the narration. I feel like this tells you all you need to know about the ethics of the people behind this project. https://t.co/7s1mdDOfzl pic.twitter.com/zv2pEvtTim
— Sean Burns (@SeanMBurns) July 15, 2021
[via The Wrap, cover image via Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com]
