One of the crucial attention-grabbing features of “Roadrunner,” the Morgan Neville-directed documentary about Anthony Bourdain, was Neville’s use of generative AI to duplicate Bourdain’s voice.
Wanting again now, Neville instructed Wired that he noticed this as a “enjoyable” approach to “maintain [Bourdain’s] voice going within the movie.” However his method drew intense criticism — whereas the artificial Bourdain solely learn phrases that the true Bourdain had really written, Neville stated many viewers assumed, “Oh, they simply made [expletive] up.”
“Many individuals instructed me that there have been different documentary tasks that have been doing the identical factor, that every one reacted; they both modified what they have been doing or put big disclaimers over every little thing,” he stated.
Since then, the director has “assiduously prevented” utilizing AI. Even in his new documentary “Piece by Piece,” by which he dramatizes musician Pharrell’s life with Legos (sure, actually), Neville was cautious to steer clear.
“Carl Sagan in [Piece by Piece] says, ‘Pharrell’ and I used to be very clear to everyone that we have been, with permission of his widow, going to make him say ‘Pharrell’ with out utilizing AI,” Neville stated. “We really experimented to assemble the phrase from syllables [he actually said].”
