Ozzy OsbourneJack Osbourne has addressed fans’ concerns and backlash over the idea of an AI-powered digital avatar of Ozzy Osbourne after he and his mother, Sharon, shared it at this year’s Licensing Expo.
As The Music previously reported, during the panel, Jack revealed that the family had joined forces with a company called Hyperreal, which is known for providing large AI avatars at concerts and other live events. According to Jack, they’re aiming to re-create the “digital DNA of Ozzy Osbourne, voice, image [and] movement.”
“It’s kind of scary how it’s really very accurate,” Jack continued. “He will exist digitally as himself for as long as we have computers.
“Technology has come such a long way to where it’s almost drag and drop. You could shoot a template for a commercial... literally prompt what you want Digital Ozzy to do in that commercial, and you just drop it in. It’s that simple now.”
Sharon added that the opportunities with digital avatars are “endless” and said the avatar would speak to people “in his own voice.”
She explained, “You can ask Ozzy anything, and he will answer you in his own voice – and the answers will be what Ozzy would have said.”
Not all fans of Ozzy are keen on the idea, however. Sharon and Jack Osbourne have been accused of attempting to profit from the heavy metal icon’s passing – he died last July – and described the idea as disrespectful or overly commercial.
Jack Osbourne responded to the criticism via a YouTube livestream.
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“Here’s the thing, it’s gonna be so tasteful what we’re doing. It’s not gonna be fucking lame,” Jack said, via Billboard. “It’s really complex what we’re doing. This isn’t just like hooking up an image of my dad to ChatGPT. This is some high-level technology that we’re gonna be working with, and it’s gonna feel very real, and it’s kind of wild how it will be utilised.”
Jack also claimed that the idea had been discussed with his father before his passing.
“It’s really cool, and it’s something that I think my dad would be into,” he continued. “We actually talked about it before he passed, about doing something like this. So, yeah. I know he would be into this.”
You can watch the livestream below.
Ozzy Osbourne passed away last July, just seventeen days after taking to the stage for the final time at Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning farewell concert.
Numerous artists paid tribute to Ozzy, including Metallica, Oasis, Yungblud, Evanescence, Judas Priest, Fall Out Boy, Halestorm, Elton John, and many others.
