George Carlin AI - the End of the World, or Just Shitty Comedy?

AI-generated "Claughter" (or Clapter) is no better than the real thing.

I have written about George Carlin before, and I am no (longer a) big fan. I guess when I was younger, I thought he was edgy and cool.  But decades after his "seven dirty words" bit, the fallout to society seems mixed.  Sure, we can say horrible things now - but should we?  A society that is bound only by the outer limits of the law and not some inherent sense of proper public behavior is a society doomed to fail.

Jerry Seinfeld made a career out of comedy without using expletives.  In fact, he noted more than once, and a comedian who resorts to dropping the F-bomb or other obscenities, has weak material. The Simpsons did an episode where Krusty the Klown re-invents himself as a Carlin-esque angry comedian, denouncing money and the "Corporate fat-cats" as well as Madison Avenue. Of course, like Carlin, he takes the money.  He eventually is exposed as a shill for luxury SUVs.  The Simpsons was better written back in those days.  Irony alert:  The clip above has Krusty denouncing how dead celebrites are used to promote products.  Kind of ironic in view of the AI-Carlin "comedy special."

First off, was this "Comedy Special" any good?  Well, no, on several counts.  I mean, Carlin himself wasn't really so much funny as he engaged in rants and "Claughter Comedy" where a comedian says things the audience likes to hear and people applaud.  His "comedy" was just a left-ish schtick of the current crop of claugher comics who drone on about being "Cancelled" even as they pocket a million bucks - and a million viewers for their latest Netflix special.

So no, saying "greedy politicians" and "corporate interests" are screwing you over isn't really funny, even if it were true.  True, we are being distracted all the time from what is really important in our lives.  But this is less of a corporate plot to rule humanity than the actions of billions of people who crave distractions and seek them out - since time began. So Carlin-AI (or indeed, Carlin) is covering no new ground here.  Irony alert: Carlin AI is one of the distractions it rails against!

Carlin AI's posture that politics don't matter contradicts his other statements that people allowed Trump to be elected.   The implication (or outright statement) that Democrats and Republicans are "the same" appeals to those on the far-Left as well as the far-Right, particularly the so-called "Libertarians" on the right.  Both groups can holler "shit yea!" and clap to this nonsense.   I think if Carlin were alive today and saw Roe v. Wade overturned, he wouldn't be saying "all politicians are alike."  Therein lies the problem with making dead AI avatars.  We have Carlin here endorsing Trump by proxy - encouraging young people not to vote.

Is it a convincing imitation?  Well, it isn't an animated video except in some parts where third parties are animated - badly, like most AI generated crap.  His voice is off, which some attribute to the "Sampling" including his younger appearances ("when he wore a suit").  But the voice is missing that annoying nasal tone and I only caught the gravelly cigarette voice once or twice in the set.

Was it funny?  Not really, but claughter never is.  In fact, I let out a muffled chuckle only once.  The rest of the time, it was, "well, that's interesting," or "that's probably true." or "that's plain ridiculous!"  Claiming there was "no difference" between Trump and Biden was stupid and not something I think Carlin would say.  In fact, he talked a lot about how "Corporate America" was trying to distract us with stupid entertainment, using stupid entertainment.

In addition, AI Carlin claims that the government has announced they are hoarding alien technology in Area 51 but no one noticed because they are too obsessed with Taylor Swift. Sadly, this illustrates how AI can spread misinformation. A few UFO buffs claim (and have long claimed) that the government is keeping a crashed alien spacecraft "secret" from the world. But a few Papier-mâché "mummies" do not a UFO make. It is all hyped bullshit, not an "official government pronouncement."

Then it gets worse.  AI Carlin uses their platform to inform us that we have nothing to fear from AI (right?) and it won't "take away our jobs" - and if we are worried about that, then "the man" has gotten to you.  AI Carlin also implies that there is a sort of atheist afterlife as an AI - we can all be programmed into computers and live on as avatars.

Bullshit - a language model is not alive and AI Carlin does not have consciousness nor is it any way related to the being formerly known as George Carlin.

This "comedy special" was not created by someone simply prompting ChatGTP with, "create a comedy special that George Carlin would have if he came back from the dead."  Rather, they used a series of prompts to identify certain topics and I am sure, edited the responses to get what they wanted.  The video was a series of stills and short videos created from separate prompts.  No, ChatGTP isn't eliminating writers and actors and producers entirely - many, many man-hours went into making this video.  It was not a 30-second prompt and then stand back and watch.

The video argues that AI isn't a threat, but says also that it will put stand up comics out of a job.  It kind of contradicts itself.  But the video also admits it cobbled together this material by sampling all of Carlin's recorded works.  Without source material, how would AI "train" to create new material?  When AI tries to create truly original content, all hell breaks loose and the results are the stuff of nightmares.

But all that being said, is this shitty AI model even legal?  Well, they try to get around the law by claiming it is an "impersonation" like Elvis impersonators or comedians doing impersonations of George Bush or whatever.  But I suspect that will not stand up in court.  This is a performance put on by the people (people, not AI) who created and edited it.  I've been to performances where people perform as famous artists, such as Patsy Cline.  I'm aware of others, including a group out Jacksonville called "The Pink Floyd Experience."   They not only have to pay for copyrights to the music, but in most cases, they have the blessings (and license) from the estates of dead artists (or live ones) to mimic the likeness.

So, stay tuned for the inevitable lawsuits.

I suspect that someone will propose a law that AI content should be so labeled, as to not violate FTC regs on false advertising.  Since so much of AI content sucks (because it isn't "there" yet and may never be) people will be pissed-off if they pay money to see or purchase a movie only to find out it is shitty AI content.

And yea, maybe these are early days and someday AI will be so seamless that we won't be able to tell reality from fiction - that is, moreso than today.  I hope to be safely in the grave when that happens.

But that may take a while. This "AI George Carlin" doesn't even have a face.  And when AI makes animated faces, well, they look fake.

One thing I did take away from this, though, is that rant humor (claughter) is not hard to mimic.  And it really isn't funny, either!