Anthony Bourdain documentary filmmaker faces backlash for using artificial intelligence for Bourdain's voice

Variety

In Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, which opens in theaters on Friday, filmmaker Morgan Neville use artificial intelligence to create three quotes with Bourdain’s voice. “I created an AI model of his voice,” Neville tells The New Yorker. He goes on to say, “If you watch the film, other than that line you mentioned, you probably don’t know what the other lines are that were spoken by the AI, and you’re not going to know.” In a GQ interview, Neville explained “we fed more than ten hours of Tony’s voice into an AI model. The bigger the quantity, the better the result. We worked with four companies before settling on the best." Neville's decision has sparked backlash, with some calling it unethical, manipulative and fraudulent. Meanwhile, Neville is facing another controversy for not interviewing Asia Argento, Bourdain's girlfriend when he committed suicide in 2018.