Will Anthony Bourdain’s AI Voice Lead to ‘Slippery Slope’ of Deepfakes in Hollywood?

“If an appreciation of Bourdain’s genius can fool audiences, what if it were a film about a controversial subject with another intent?” film professor Ted Braun asks

Morgan Neville’s documentary about the late chef Anthony Bourdain, “Roadrunner,” has raised a host of questions about the use of cutting-edge technology — particularly in supposedly nonfiction films. If Neville was able to use artificial intelligence to have “Anthony Bourdain” read aloud an email that he never actually spoke, some experts worry about other ways filmmakers could fool audiences and the lines of fact and fiction.

“Hey, maybe if I’m running for president, I can use Anthony Bourdain as my speaker. He can introduce me before every speech. Maybe that’s not something Anthony Bourdain would do, but who has the right to allow that?” Sameer Singh, an associate professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, told TheWrap.

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Brian Welk

Film Reporter • brian.welk@thewrap.com • Twitter: @brianwelk

Beatrice Verhoeven, PWS

Beatrice Verhoeven

Film Editor, Twitter: @bverhoev