The recent lawsuit filed by late comedian George Carlin’s estate over the use of his likeness in an artificial intelligence-generated comedy special could shift the focus of AI lawsuits, one expert theorizes. 

The lawsuit, filed Jan. 25 in California federal court, accused the “Dudesy” podcast of using Carlin’s original works without permission to create a script and sound-alike performance in an effort to “resurrect” Carlin for a fake comedy special titled “I’m Glad I’m Dead,” released Jan. 9 on YouTube.