Gallows humor is as apt a response as any to the encroachment of AI on the creative industry, and here’s an amusingly tasteless example—a parody of deepfakes that envisions a future where you can get any dead celebrity to flog your product.
Created by the comedy duo Nick & Charles, the video is styled as a self-promo piece for Keeple.ai, a fictional (for now) marketing technology company that specializes in getting “life-challenged” celebs into ad campaigns.
Nick plays the a company spokesman who explains its services, with deepfakes including James Gandolfini and John Lennon showing the results in action.
“At keeple.ai, we’re committed to leveraging cutting-edge AI technologies to preserve and honor the legacies of beloved celebrities who have transcended our mortal realm,” says a company statement (itself AI-generated). “Join us in our quest to seamlessly integrate the past with the present, as we celebrate the timeless brilliance of those who have left an indelible mark on our collective consciousness.”
Nick & Charles said in a statement: “We tried to take AI to its inevitable final form to prove a hilarious point. Sadly, people think the company’s real and AI Teddy Roosevelt just booked an insurance ad.”
Deepfakes have been getting more sophisticated in recent years, but resurrecting dead celebs in advertising is actually nothing new—as seen in CP+B’s memorably strange 2007 spot starring Orville Redenbacher (who died in 1995).
Credits
Date
Apr 4, 2024
Director
Nick & Charles
