By Bryan Walsh
Publication Date: 2025-11-14 13:30:00
Before Franz Kafka died in 1924, he had a simple wish for his friend and estate executor Max Brod: to burn all of Kafka’s unpublished writings and papers.
Luckily for the rest of the world, Brod largely ignored what Kafka said, which is why we have works like this today The castle And The processnot to mention the word “Kafkaesque.” But Kafka’s story raises the question of what rights artists, musicians, writers and celebrities in general have should dispose of their work after their death. And these questions become even more important in the age of AI, when it’s not just about a person’s work that can live on after them, but about their actual voice.
Michael Caine talks like that
AI audio startup ElevenLabs, which creates stunningly realistic synthetic speech, has just launched an “Iconic Voices” marketplace that allows companies to legally license AI versions of well-known voices — some living, many deceased — for ads and other content.
On the living side the actors are…
