Jerry Garcia Latest Artist to be Replicated with AI

If you're a Jerry Garcia fan, this artificial intelligence news about the late Grateful Dead figure is either going to be exciting or creepy.

According to Billboard, the Garcia estate approved of a partnership with AI voice company ElevenLabs to add an AI version of Garcia's voice to its "Iconic Voices" collection. On ElevenLabs's app, Garcia's AI voice can be used to read audiobooks, articles, and more in over 32 languages. Other late cultural figures featured in this collection include Judy Garland, John Wayne, James Dean, and Maya Angelou.

In a statement, Garcia's daughter, Keelin, said, "My father was a pioneering artist, who embraced innovative audio and visual technologies ... Now, as technological landscapes continue to expand, ElevenLabs AI Audio technology will offer fans the first opportunity to hear and stream a replica of my father’s voice reading their favorite books and other written content.”

This news comes weeks before Garcia will posthumously receive the Kennedy Center Honors along with his Grateful Dead bandmates. Also receiving the Kennedy Center Honors as part of its 2024 class are Francis Ford Coppola, Bonnie Raitt, Arturo Sandoval, and The Apollo.

When the 2024 Kennedy Center Honors class was announced in July, the surviving member of the Grateful Dead said in a joint statement, "It goes without saying that the Kennedy Center Honors represents the highest of reaches for artistic achievement ... We’ve always felt that the music we make embodies and imparts something beyond the notes and phrases being played—and that is something we are privileged to share with all who are drawn to what we do—so it also must be said that our music belongs as much to our fans, the Dead Heads, as it does to us. This honor, then, is as much theirs as ours."

A biopic about the Grateful Dead was first announced in November 2021. At the time, Deadline reported the Dead biopic will be directed by Martin Scorsese, and Jonah Hill has been cast as Garcia. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who are best known for their work on American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson, have been tapped to write the script. The film will also have a home at Apple and their ever-growing slate of original content/programming.

Deadline noted, "Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Trixie Garcia, Eric Eisner and Bernie Cahill will exec produce. Insiders add that with the band and the group’s management participating in the film, Apple has rights to use the group's musical catalogue for the film."

Since then, little has been announced about the film project. In August, ScreenRant reported the biopic was on hold because Scorsese is working on other projects.