Just as news surfaced about the eerily realistic Tom Cruise deepfake going viral on TikTok, another public figure has fallen victim to artificial intelligence. MSCHF, the experimental creative brand behind Future’s $46,000 sandals made from deconstructed Hermès Birkin bags, has used deep learning technology to create an incredibly accurate AI version of Gucci Mane‘s voice. And the first thing that they use it for? To read classic literature.
Coined Project Gucciberg, MSCHF’s peculiar new creative endeavor features the AI version of Gucci Mane reading classic literature, from Pride & Prejudice and A Tale of Two Cities to The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Beowulf. In addition to the sonic appeal of combining old English with Gucci Mane’s signature southern drawl, each of the new audiobooks features classic Gucci cover art, remixed to fit the respective book.
MSCHF explains the project by saying, “Gucci Mane is an iconic voice. Project Gutenberg is an archive of famous works of Western literature that have entered the public domain. A great voice plus a great book creates a killer audiobook!”
“We didn’t write the books, and we deepfaked the voice. Is this copyright infringement? Is it identity theft?” The brand continues while touching on the legality of its Gucci Mane-inspired endeavor. “All of the training data (recordings) used to make Project Gucciberg were publicly available on the web. Gucciberg lives in that lovely grey area where everything’s new and anything goes.”
It’s yet to be seen if Gucci Mane is a fan of Project Gucciberg or not, so we’ll have to wait and see whether he finds it humorous or takes any legal action. In the meantime, will you finally be giving some of these classics a shot now that Gucci Mane is reading them?
[via]