Stan Lee, the great Marvel comic book impresario, died back in 2018 at the age of 95, but that’s not stopping ghouls from digging up his grave and propping up his corpse for profit — digitally, that is, in the form of a life-size AI avatar.
If you attend the Los Angeles Comic Con between September 26 to 28, you’ll be able to pay $15 to $20 for a photo op or short conversation with an AI hologram of Lee, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Tech company Proto Hologram developed the hologram, with the rights to Lee’s likeness owned by media company Kartoon Studios, which has big plans for “rapid commercial expansion of its Stan Lee IP,” such as collectible cards and a refresh of his wax statue at Madame Tussauds in New York City. The hologram AI avatar is part of the same push.
At the con, comic book fans enter a special 1,500 square foot booth to interact with the AI-powered Lee, who appears in a rectangular box. The AI avatar may even make a surprise appearance in other parts of the convention, such as a panel, according to the Reporter.
And if being trapped as an AI construct after your death for an eager audience feels a bit like something that would happen in a Marvel comic book, the folks behind the Lee avatar have already worked out a defense of the project.
“We’ll never put words in his mouth that aren’t in line with things he spoke about in his lifetime,” Bob Sabouni, who heads the Stan Lee division at Kartoon Studios and is an ex-Marvel corporate executive, told the Reporter. “Fortunately, with decades of footage capturing his thoughts on so many subjects, we can build a voice that stays true, not always word for word, but always faithful in spirit, context, and intent.”
That remains to be seen, since AI agents persistently hallucinate throughout the world of generative AI. What if fans ask divisive questions about hot-button political topics, or about Lee’s own creative controversies?
This won’t be the first time Lee has been dragged unwilling to a con. Back when he was alive, caretakers would bring the elder and nearly blind Lee to countless cons to make appearances, garnering claims of elder abuse.
One thing’s for sure this time around: something can carry the stink of a money grab even from beyond the grave.
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