Ozzy Osbourne’s family brings him back as an AI hologram

The Prince of Darkness may be gone, but an AI-powered hologram will aim to keep Ozzy Osbourne’s unique voice, personality and mannerisms alive for fans.

Ozzy’s widow Sharon Osbourne and son Jack Osbourne revealed their plans for a digital doppelganger at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas this week.

Sharon Osbourne was quoted as saying, “You can ask Ozzy anything you want, and he’ll answer it in his own voice. And the answer is, “Ozzy would say this.” Summary of discussion by publication license global. “We’re going to spread it around the world. People can talk to him and he’ll answer.”

The annual show brings together artists, celebrities, entertainment studios, and manufacturers to license their intellectual property. The Osbournes unveiled a hologram of the original Black Sabbath frontman and lead singer during a hosted discussion on the show’s main stage to discuss the future of the Osbourne brand.

“As long as we have computers, he will continue to exist as himself digitally,” Jack Osborne said. “Technology has advanced to the point where it’s almost drag-and-drop. You can even shoot a template for a commercial…you literally prompt Digital Ozzy to do what you want it to do in that commercial, and you just drop it in. It’s so easy now.”

Ozzy Osbourne, known as the godfather of heavy metal, passed away last year at the age of 76. after a long career There he constantly reinvented himself. My interest in him shows no signs of waning. Sony Pictures is working on a biopic that is scheduled to be released in theaters in 2028. working class heroAn exhibition celebrating his life will be on view at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery until the end of September.

Expanding on that tradition, digital lookalikes will be introduced as early as late summer, interacting with fans in the US and UK in multiple languages, making eye contact and responding individually in real time.

This hologram can ‘really read the room’

“He’s more than just a chatbot. He can really read the room,” David Nussbaum, founder of Proto Hologram, one of the companies partnering with the Osborne family on the project, said in an interview. “He might shout out that he got a Black Sabbath tattoo on the arm of a fan across the room, or he might treat a group of executives in suits a little differently than he would a bunch of real headbangers, or he might sense a distraction in the room and do something to calm the audience down and keep them focused.”

Other celebrities who have been hologrammed by Protohologram include: older brother host julie chen moonvesElton John, Olivia Rodrigo, William Shatner, Kenan Thompson. At the 2024 visual art exhibition singer-songwriter jewel Her holographic twin greets visitors at the Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas.

To use a hologram, you must photograph your subject using a 4K camera and light source. Because subjects speak conversationally and move naturally, the company’s proprietary software can learn their movements, tone of voice, and rhythm.

However, recreating lifelike versions of deceased celebrities requires a decidedly different approach.

To bring Digital Ozzy to life, Hyperreal, a content studio specializing in photorealistic characters and AI-driven interactive entertainment, uses authenticated source material, or what the company calls “digital DNA.” that’s what it did Bringing back legendary Marvel artist Stan Lee At last year’s Los Angeles Comic Con.

“Nothing is collected from the Internet, nothing is approximated, and nothing is generated from data that was not specifically and voluntarily provided,” HyperReal CEO Remington Scott said in an interview. “The results operate in real time. This is not a pre-recorded video playing on a loop. It is a living performance that allows you to listen, react, and interact naturally.”

How did the fans react?

This is not the first time Ozzy Osbourne has been resurrected with artificial intelligence after his death. Last year, Rod Stewart paid tribute to the rocker with an AI-generated video that showed him taking selfies with deceased celebrities such as Kurt Cobain, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley and Freddie Mercury in heaven. This segment caused a backlash and Some viewers have criticized it “It’s creepy and tasteless.”

The announcement of Ozzy’s upcoming avatar was greeted with both excitement and skepticism. “Rest that person,” writes Joshua Hayes. X thread About the news. This was one of the more subdued negative reactions, many of which focused on respect for the dead.

The broader question of how audiences will ultimately respond to AI representations of deceased artists will be answered over time by the quality and integrity of what is built, Hyperreal’s Scott argues. He said this is a healthy discussion for the industry.

“We also believe that our fans are smarter and more insightful than the public gives them credit for,” he added. “When they experience something that truly captures the connection they feel with an artist, they recognize it. Jack Osborne called the precision of this technology “frightening.” The reaction is not a fear of something artificial, but a recognition of something real. ”