Iceland is considering introducing restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence to “revive” dead people. It comes after the national broadcaster used AI to “resurrect” the beloved comedian in a music video that aired during the country’s New Year celebrations.
The clip, featuring comedian Harman Gunnarsson, who died in 2013, was shown on Áramótaskaupin, a New Year’s variety show that is one of Iceland’s most popular annual television events. The video was created with the help of Icelandic startup OverTune, an app for creating music tracks on your phone that also has artificial voice capabilities.
“Overtune made headlines in Iceland with our AI music video for the National New Year’s Festival in collaboration with the National Broadcasting Station of Iceland. 5 voice AI models and 16 faces were trained. Characters include politicians, union leaders, a former president of Iceland on a tricycle, and Björk,” wrote Sigurdur Arnason, founder of OverTune. “We discussed the ethical and legal implications of this project, especially since we were bringing a beloved late comedian back to life.”
The debate in this country is reminiscent of the one that unfolded in the United States after a company created a “new” George Carlin comedy video using artificial intelligence.
In Iceland, Bjorn Levi Gunnarsson, a member of parliament from the Pirate Party, proposed a bill that would make it illegal to use deepfake technology and create digital doubles of any person without their permission, and make it illegal to revive a dead person using AI without the permission of their family.
In an interview, Arnason said most of the country’s controversy has focused on the national broadcaster, not OverTune.
“We are just a platform for making music, not knockoffs. But we did it, and the response was such that it basically shook the whole country. Parliament now puts it this way: ‘We must avoid this happening again.’”
Icelandic media reports that some members of the comedian’s family knew that he would be used for the video, but due to the “Christmas madness” not all of his children were aware of exactly how.
