GoKawiilRocker Ozzy Osbourne was a flamboyant stage presence with his band Black Sabbath, and later he was a goofy reality TV dad on MTV's The Osbournes. A year after his death at 75, he may be on the verge of making a new kind of impression -- as an AI-powered hologram.
His family has partnered with a company called Hyperreal, which has created other holograms, including one of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, to plan the Ozzy AI project.
His widow, Sharon, and son Jack have been exploring this possibility for a decade. Despite fan criticism, the rocker's family said on Friday's episode of their podcast, The Osbournes, that they consider it a smart use of new technology.
"It's like saying, 'Why do you need a CD when you have a vinyl record?'" Sharon Osbourne said, addressing fan complaints. "You move with the times."
Jack Osbourne called the Ozzy avatar a "digital imprint," not a hologram.
On the podcast, he read what he called the top five fan criticisms of the Ozzy AI project, including quotes from one person who called the Ozzy project "ChatGPT with a face."
Jack Osbourne took issue with that comment in particular, noting that the Ozzy figure would not be making up information, only citing facts provided to it about Ozzy's real life.
"This isn't ChatGPT with Dad's face on it," he said. "This is a closed AI, so it's not connected to the internet. We build a database. And the thing that I can't emphasize enough is that, this is only information that either my Dad said or that was written accurately about him."
The project would fit in with Ozzy's concerns about his legacy, Sharon Osbourne said. "My husband would say to me over and over, 'After I go, how long do you think I'll be remembered?'"
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