"You know what they never tell you about legends? They outlive the page," says an AI version of Stan Lee in a new video from AI company ElevenLabs. The Marvel comic writer and creator of some of our favourite characters passed away in 2018, but in the age we live in today, he's a prime target for an "AI resurrection," brought about by the rights to his voice and likeness have been sold off.
ElevenLabs' Iconic Marketplace consists of a range of well-known celebrities that companies can license for commercial use with AI narration, videos, and more. Lee's voice can be used through the Eleven Reader app to narrate any book, and the voice itself was trained on professional recordings of Lee. Moreover, users can also generate Lee's likeness within templates inspired by comic book panels.
"Stan always believed in meeting his fans where they were: in the pages of a comic, at a convention, or in a quick on-screen cameo. This partnership is a way of continuing that. Fans have always told us that when they read his comics, they hear the words in Stan's voice, and now, thanks to ElevenLabs, we can make that a reality," said Chaz Rainey, lawyer and board member for Stan Lee Universe, in a statement caught by Variety.
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Other celebrities available through ElevenLabs' Iconic Marketplace include Michael Caine, Judy Garland, Burt Reynolds, David Hasselhoff, and Albert Einstein. The Stan Lee partnership is also seeing the production of a new series at ElevenLabs, which sees Lee's AI voice read a different book every month.
What do you think about "resurrecting" celebrities through AI?