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Within the first 10 minutes of The Andy Warhol Diaries, a message appears. The first title cards say what you may expect from a documentary about Warhol as it praises him as one of the most important artists of all time and touches on his intense privacy. Then another appears: “Andy’s voice in the series is recreated using an AI program with The Andy Warhol Foundation’s permission.” Yes, the voice you’re hearing is really Andy Warhol; or at least, it’s based on recordings of his real voice. And Hhow this collaboration came together is fascinating.
In an interview with Wired, director Andrew Rossi and representatives from the Andy Warhol Foundation explained why they decided to recreate Warhol’s voice. A large part of the decision had to do with Warhol’s work as an artist. Throughout his career, Warhol was fascinated by robotics. He even enlisted an imagineering veteran from Disney to create a robotic version of him in 1982.
“Machines have less problems,” Warhol was once quoted as saying. “I’d like to be a machine, wouldn’t you?”
Due to his interest in this field and how he often used technology in his work to comment on society, The Andy Warhol Foundation approved using an AI version of Warhol in the docuseries. The voice intentionally mimics the robotic tone the real Warhol used as it narrates the stories Warhol once told diarist Pat Hackett. The software was even sophisticated enough to let Rossi add emotion to AI Warhol’s words.
But because there aren’t many recordings of the late Warhol, The Andy Warhol Diaries recruited the vocal work of actor Bill Irwin. Irwin, who started his career as a vaudeville-style stage performer, won a Tony for his role in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway. He’s also starred in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Legion.
“We tried models combining 80 to 75 percent of the AI voices and 20 to 15 percent of Bill’s performance,” Rossi said in the Wired interview. “In the end, Andy’s voice throughout the series presents a variation of ranges on this interpolated model.”
So there you have it — a triumph of vocal technology is hiding right in your Netflix account. During a time filled with technology replacing beloved, late celebrities it’s nice to have one AI recreation that feels both respectful and ethical.
