A new documentary about Anthony Bourdain is being labelled “grotesque” and “upsetting” for using AI technology to recreate the voice of the late celebrity chef.
In a new interview with The New Yorker, “Roadrunner” director Morgan Neville explains how the controversial decision came about.
“I created an AI model of his voice,” Neville explained. “There were three quotes there I wanted his voice for that there were no recordings of.”
Neville continued, “If you watch the film… you probably don’t know what the other lines are that were spoken by the AI, and you’re not going to know. We can have a documentary-ethics panel about it later.”
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Many Twitter users have been calling out the documentary.
This feels…strange? Questionable? https://t.co/SJCu8qk2tZ
— Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) July 15, 2021
the Anthony Bourdain voice AI thing is so upsetting
— calm jawn (@small_jawn) July 15, 2021
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idk I think this is pretty grotesque pic.twitter.com/Hpe3GSvh2Y
— future canon (@futurecanon) July 15, 2021
Anthony Bourdain would have absolutely hated this. https://t.co/ooBoFxQdKi
— Adam Herman (@AdamZHerman) July 15, 2021
Bourdain’s wife Ottavia then posted a link to a Variety article claiming she’d said she was “cool” with bosses using AI technology to recreate his voice.
She claimed this wasn’t the case, posting:
I certainly was NOT the one who said Tony would have been cool with that. https://t.co/CypDvc1sBP
— Ottavia (@OttaviaBourdain) July 16, 2021
