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Anthony Bourdain Documentary Sparks Debate About Ethics Of AI Voiceover

Anthony Bourdain on Nov. 2, 2016. (Andy Kropa/Invision/AP, File)
Anthony Bourdain on Nov. 2, 2016. (Andy Kropa/Invision/AP, File)

Fans of the late Anthony Bourdain rushed to see the new documentary about his life when it was released earlier this month. “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” was for many a chance to say goodbye to the globetrotting celebrity chef, who died by suicide in 2018.

But one small part of the movie has sparked a big debate: The director used an artificially generated version of Bourdain’s voice to read aloud from an e-mail he sent to a friend.

Here & Now‘s Celeste Headlee speaks with Karen Hao, editor at the MIT Technology Review.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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