Agatha Christie has passed away, but she has recently started teaching a writing class. Christie, who died in 1976, has been chosen to teach a course for BBC Maestro, an online lecture series similar to Master Class. Participants in the course, which costs 79 pounds (about $105), will have the opportunity to learn from Christie alongside other experts. Christie’s participation in the course was made possible through the use of a “digital prosthetic” created with artificial intelligence and fitted over a real actor’s performance.
Academic researchers worked on creating a script for the course using Christie’s writings and archival interviews. The course’s release coincides with a debate about the use of artificial intelligence, specifically regarding copyright laws and the potential for AI models to use artists’ work without their consent. However, in this case, Christie’s family is fully on board with the project. Her great-grandson and the chief executive of Agatha Christie Ltd, James Prichard, mentions that they were careful to use only Christie’s words and to ensure that her image and voice resembled hers.
Christie is not the first person to be resurrected through AI technology. Other individuals, such as Anthony Bourdain and Peter Cushing, have had their voices and likenesses recreated with AI. In 2021, AI technology was used to generate Bourdain’s voice reading out his own words. Peter Cushing has also been resurrected to act in movies. These developments have raised concerns about the potential for AI
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/world/europe/agatha-christie-ai-class-bbc.html
