Eminem used AI to recreate the voice and image of Slim Shady for his latest album The Death of Slim Shady (Coupe de Grâce), which came out earlier this month.
It’s been 25 years since we were first introduced to the rapper’s alter ego in Em’s 1999 song My Name Is, from his major-label debut album The Slim Shady LP. And in the video of his new single Houdini, Slim – who’s getting killed off – comes back. He travels forward in time to today, as he and Eminem go back-to-back with lyrics from the 2002 song Without Me, quoting “Shady’s back/Tell a friend.”
According to Billboard’s Damien Scott, Eminem used the AI company Metaphysic to bring Slim Shady back in both voice and image. He explains that the company, founded in 2021, offers tools that allow artists to “create and manage digital versions of themselves that they can then manipulate and use for their own projects or license out to third parties for movies, TV shows, or other commercial projects”.
Artists can protect their image and likeness at a time when AI is exploding, and registering with Metaphysic gives them the opportunity to build a database of their face, voice, and videos from any point in their career.
There isn’t a lot to stop companies and other bodies from exploiting the image and likeness of a musician or artist, but if you’re registered with Metaphysic, the company will notify you when they find any instances online, providing some semblance of protection in an area where it’s lacking.
Ed Ulbrich, chief content officer and EVP of production at Metaphysic, says: “We’re here to help people protect themselves and at least understand what’s going on. It is not unreasonable to believe that people should own their own likeness. They should own their own biometric data. They should have access to their AI self. They should be able to control it.
“And if you are an individual that is in command, we don’t own that. We maintain it for them, but it’s up to them if they want to license it to someone.”
