Alexander Larman
If you were one of the millions of Ozzy Osbourne fans who mourned the death of the Black Sabbath frontman when he died last summer, then you may, or may not, be delighted at the news that he is soon to be resurrected, albeit in holographic form. Granted, a return from the dead might not seem entirely unlikely for the one-time ‘Prince of Darkness’, but the form that his comeback will take is purely down to AI wizardry.
The idea of a gleaming, sanitised Ozzy is a depressing one both technologically and in terms of what it represents for the music industry
The digital companies Hyperreal and Proto Hologram are promising a whizz-bang experience that will allow no doubt grateful audiences not only to view Osbourne in his pomp, but also to interact with him. Hyperreal claimed that all footage of Osbourne will be ‘authenticated, approved source material, curated, consented, and controlled by the people who love him most.’
It is little surprise that his widow Sharon is firmly behind the project, and she has said that, ‘You can go and talk to Ozzy and ask him anything you want and he will talk back to you. You can have your photo taken with Ozzy. He can tell the audience he loves them. He can just be Ozzy. After you get over the tears, it’s brilliant.’ It is unclear as to whether there will be a digitally aided recreation of the notorious moment when he bit the head off a bat on stage, but given advances in AI technology, virtually anything is possible, if not necessarily advisable.
