The son of Sir Michael Parkinson has said a new podcast using artificial intelligence (AI) to recreate the talk show host’s voice will not be “bringing my father back”.
Michael “Mike” Parkinson Jr, said his father, who died at the age of 88 last year, liked the idea of using technology to interview someone who had died.
Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB), he said: “Really, what this came from was, was an extension of the work I’ve done with my dad, which essentially is looking after the archive, giving it more life after he’s gone, and also just paying tribute to his legacy.”
We never thought we'd hear Michael Parkinson again - but Artificial Intelligence is changing all that.
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) October 29, 2024
Sir Michael Parkinson's son has defended the use of AI to recreate the voice of the late chat show host for a new interview podcast series. pic.twitter.com/bTTtSc2YIm
He continued: “I mean, he spent most of his time with me, looking at the archive, using the archive in various different ways.
“He would do live shows and we would write books based on the archive.
“We would do documentaries based on the archive. He was fascinated by the art of interviewing.
“He basically used to have a conversation with me saying, ‘I wish there was the technology which could bring back people I never had a chance to interview’.
“He would have loved to have brought back Frank Sinatra.”
Asked if he has had an interaction with the voice as his father, he said: “He’s not my dad.
“The thing about it is, he’s not my dad. I mean, I’m not bringing my father back.
“It’s not some kind of Hamlet’s ghost moment.”
An AI version of Sir Michael’s voice will appear in a new eight-part podcast series, Virtually Parkinson, which will launch later in the year.
The podcast is not about Michael Parkinson, per se. It's actually about the exploration of the relationship between AI and humans
Benjamin Field from the producers, Deep Fusion Films, told the programme that they have fed more than 1,000 hours of Sir Michael’s interviews into the AI and said they are “not passing it off as Michael Parkinson”.
“The podcast is not about Michael Parkinson, per se. It’s actually about the exploration of the relationship between AI and humans”, he said.
Parkinson Jr had reached out to the company about the possibility of creating a new podcast series using his father’s voice to accompany YouTube hosted The Michael Parkinson Channel of archive material preserving his legacy.
He interviewed his father as part of the BBC documentary: Parkinson At 50 and wrote the book Like Father, Like Son with him.
