Michael Parkinson's son defends new AI podcast which uses his late father's voice

4 weeks ago 8

PA Media Sir Michael Parkinson during filming of the Graham Norton Show astatine  The London Studios, southbound  London, successful  2016. He is smiling and is wearing a achromatic  overgarment   and reddish  tie.PA Media

A caller podcast recreates Sir Michael's dependable for a drawstring of caller interviews

Sir Michael Parkinson's lad has defended the usage of AI to recreate the dependable of the precocious chat amusement big for a caller interrogation podcast series.

Virtually Parkinson has been produced by Deep Fusion Films with the backing of Sir Michael's household and estate.

The eight-episode bid volition spot the Barnsley-born broadcaster, who died past twelvemonth aged 88, interact with a drawstring of caller guests.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today, his lad Mike Parkinson said helium told producers helium "really wanted to it to beryllium wide [to listeners] it was an AI iteration".

However, the podcast's merchandise comes astatine a clip erstwhile the usage of AI successful originative arts is being hotly debated, with galore arguing it needs to beryllium utilized cautiously and ethically, if astatine all.

Many broadcasters and surface actors are acrophobic astir the hazard AI poses to their livelihoods, arsenic good arsenic the complications astir AI being mistaken by the nationalist for the existent idiosyncratic oregon product.

In 2022, the national Equity launched a "Stop AI Stealing the Show" campaign. The usage of AI was a large origin successful the strikes that brought Hollywood to a standstill past year.

However, arsenic Sir Michael is dormant and truthful nary longer has a livelihood to protect, the statement successful this lawsuit is much astir whether oregon not it is ethical to person him accidental things helium ne'er said successful existent life, and besides whether AI versions of existent hosts is thing listeners adjacent want.

Mike Parkinson said Deep Fusion's co-creators Ben Field and Jamie Anderson "are 100% precise ethical successful their attack towards it, they are precise alert of the ineligible and ethical issues, and they volition not effort to walk this disconnected arsenic real".

Sir Michael Parkinson pictured interviewing Cilla Black connected  his BBC One chat amusement   successful  2001. The brace  beryllium   other  each   different   against a purple background

Sir Michael Parkinson pictured interviewing Cilla Black connected his BBC One chat amusement successful 2001

Recalling however the podcast was developed, Parkinson said: "Before helium died, we [my begetter and I] talked astir doing a podcast, and unluckily helium passed distant earlier it came true, which is wherever Deep Fusion came in.

"I came to them and said, ‘if we wanted to bash this podcast with my begetter talking astir his archive, is it possible?’, and they said ‘it’s much than possible, we deliberation we tin bash thing more’.

He added his begetter "would person been fascinated" by the project, though noted the broadcaster himself was a "technophobe".

Discussing the caller AI mentation of his father, Parkinson said: "It’s bonzer what they’ve achieved, due to the fact that I didn’t truly deliberation it was going to beryllium arsenic close arsenic that."

Anderson, who was being interviewed alongside Parkinson, added: "I don’t deliberation it’s astir being better.

"The AI Michael is not replacing a presenter, it is simply a caller podcast wherever Sir Michael’s bequest has continued. So it’s not taking distant a presenter’s job."

This constituent volition beryllium disputed by galore of today's presenters. If a personage impermanent agrees to beryllium interviewed by the AI Sir Michael, that arguably removes the accidental for a antithetic interrogation which could person been conducted by a surviving journalist.

'Noteworthy guests'

Parkinson said 1 of his motivations was to "find a new, younger audience, 1 that perchance wasn’t alert of what my begetter could do".

"It’s a fantastic mode of extending the beingness of idiosyncratic who was an outlier and a unsocial endowment of his generation," helium added.

Explaining however the podcast would work, Anderson said: "These are marque caller interviews, and the AI we’ve created is arsenic adjacent to the precocious Sir Michael arsenic we could perchance get it.

"He is autonomous, truthful we fto him commencement the interrogation and aft that it is up to AI Sir Michael, who is trained connected Sir Michael’s benignant and the interrogation questions.

He added: "We can’t archer you the guests yet, we person a fewer slots remaining, but they are notable, noteworthy people."

Sir Michael's TV vocation spanned 7 decades, and helium interviewed the world's biggest stars connected his long-running chat show, which ran connected the BBC and aboriginal ITV.

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