With Al, dead celebs are working and making millions

They are tapped for voice-overs, 'digital human' acting jobs and stage shows

Can you think of a better way to get into the spirit of Halloween than listening to Washington Irving's short story The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow read by the ghost of James Dean?

The actor's career may have ended tragically in 1955, but his estate is keeping his pay cheque alive through artificial intelligence (AI). Alongside the estates of Judy Garland, Laurence Olivier and Burt Reynolds, it signed with AI voice-cloning start-up ElevenLabs in July as part of the company's "iconic voices" project.

The actors now narrate books, articles and other text material put into ElevenLabs' Reader app.

From voice-over work to "digital human" acting jobs to immersive stage shows, AI is firing up the dead celebrity industry.

The industry has proved lucrative. Despite pop star Michael Jackson being about US$500 million (S$645 million) in debt at the time of his death, his estate has amassed a fortune of US$2 billion, according to People magazine, thanks to projects such as a jukebox musical and even posthumous albums featuring work made while he was alive.

Yet advances in AI mean a late artiste like Jackson can still generate new art.

Intellectual property lawyer Mark Roesler has represented over 3,000 celebrities, most of whom are dead, and made some 30,000 deals on their behalf.

Among current clients including American civil rights activists Rosa Parks and Malcolm X, he has negotiated musician Jerry Garcia his own ElevenLabs deal.

There are two key ways a living celebrity makes money, Mr Roesler says.

The first is personal services, which, for a musician like Prince, would have been income from his concerts and songs.