Getty ImagesDolly Parton’s sister has issued a plea to fans over “fake AI garbage” posted on social media in the wake of the singer’s death.
Tributes to the late country legend have appeared online and at locations including the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, after Parton died on 25 August at the age of 80.
Writing on Instagram, Stella Parton thanked those who had shown “genuine support” for the star and her family – but said a “tremendous amount of AI and endless garbage being posted” had been “challenging to absorb”.
Her request for people to show “more compassion” in how they respond to Parton’s death follows similar pleas from families of late celebrities over AI tributes.
Zelda Williams’ plea was shared by Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s daughter Bernice A King, who asked fans to “please stop” in a post on Instagram.
Little over a month later, Robert Redford’s daughter Amy spoke out over AI content created to pay tribute to the American actor following his death last September.
“Every human being experiences pain and loss in life and my family is no different,” wrote Parton in her Instagram post on Friday.
“Sadly, because of the way our lives have been lived in front of the public, we have no choice but to be subjected to incredible pressure and insensitivity from strangers.”
She said there had been a tide of AI and “garbage” posts, adding: “As time passes, those who are in the business of exploiting the loss and tragedies of others on a daily basis will move onto the next stampede of endless misinformation.”
Parton also asked that people look to her sister’s life as “an example for tolerance” and mutual respect.
“It’s not about the most clever comments, fake AI garbage or snarky tweets,” she said.
Fake images and AI tracks
With an abundance of AI tools able to quickly generate text, images, video or audio, many have used them to craft tribute posts for departed stars.
Since Parton’s death in late August, dozens of AI-generated songs, images and videos have appeared online.
US President Donald Trump was among those to share such material – posting an AI-generated image of himself and Parton, arm in arm, on his platform Truth Social.
Truth SocialAnother image criticised as an AI fake, shared on Instagram and X, depicted the late country singer without any make-up or a wig.
One X user described it as “incredibly weird”, while another called it a “violation”.
On YouTube, a “heartfelt fan-made tribute by Miley Cyrus” to her godmother Dolly Parton and sung in the style of the Wrecking Ball singer has had more than 1.5 million views.
It has an AI label and disclaimer in the description to say it is not an “official release by Miley Cyrus or Dolly Parton’s representatives”.
But scores of comments have been left on the video thanking Cyrus for the “perfect tribute”.
Other AI-generated tributes in the style of singers Pink and Celine Dion have also been widely-viewed online.
And Dolly Parton herself appeared to have been concerned about the potential impact of AI on artists.
She told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023 that while she thought AI was “going to be great for a lot of things, like science and medicine”, the idea of it replacing humans “scares me”.
“That’s like the mark of the beast. It’s like you can’t remake a person,” she said.
“I want to just leave a body of work behind. I think all this stuff can be great, used in the right way.
“But not to replace voices and writings and not to replace a human being that belongs to God.”
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