Family of dead Dilbert creator freaks out as AI clone suddenly starts hosting his podcast

Weeks after Scott Adams’ death, an unauthorised AI version of the “Dilbert” creator began posting podcast episodes online, alarming his family and longtime followers.Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind Dilbert, died of prostate cancer on Jan.

13 at age 68. His ex-wife and caregiver, Shelly Miles, announced his death during a livestream of his long-running show.“Unfortunately, this isn’t good news, of course, he waited ’til just before the show started, but he’s not with us anymore,” Miles said.Within weeks, a digital version of Adams appeared online.An account on X called AIScottAdams began posting episodes titled “AI Coffee with Scott Adams” starting Jan.

27. The videos feature a strikingly similar likeness and voice to the late cartoonist, discussing familiar themes and even sipping from a digital version of his trademark coffee mug.The resemblance unsettled those closest to him.“My brother never intended, never would have approved, an AI version of him that wasn’t authorized by himself or his estate,” his brother Dave Adams said in a statement.Adams had hosted “Real Coffee with Scott Adams” nearly daily since 2018, blending political commentary with persuasion techniques, a subject he often wrote about in his self-help style books.

A trained hypnotist, he frequently focused on reframing language and influencing thought patterns.The AI-hosted version mirrors that format, down to tone and cadence.Friends and followers quickly raised objections. AI researcher Brian Roemmelle wrote on X:“It is my firm insight that this needs to halt. 1: The family of @ScottAdamsSays must have full physical and commercial control. 2: The visual, audio and subject content quality is not to the level I believe Scott would have approved of.”Speaking to The Post, Roemmelle broadened the concern beyond a single case.“Do you own your likeness, and what is the line? If you don’t own your likeness then what are you? Who owns you? Define what that means if you don’t get to own yourself,” he said.

“If we don’t define the line of where a tribute ends and an outright robbery and theft begins there’s going to be outright chaos, what’s left of your humanity will be rapidly stripped away.”Complicating the situation are Adams’ own past comments.In one clip now circulating from the AI account, a version of Adams appears to voice approval of digital replication.“I would like to be a model for one of the first AIs … I would be a good candidate to turn into AI even if you’re just practicing,” the AI doppelgänger says.

But in later episodes of his original podcast, Adams walked that idea back.“I’ve been telling you for years that I plan to build an AI robotic clone of myself, I have changed that plan… when you mention that to people you know, they look at you with sadness and they go ‘it wouldn’t be you,’ ” Scott said.Dave Adams said the brothers had spoken often about unauthorized AI recreations.“I said it would be awful for me to see and speak with something that sounded and appeared to be him, but had no idea who I am,” he said.“Scott agreed that would be important to him as well.”