Edith Piaf's life will be the subject of an AI film, with the blessing of her estate

In the wake of a new SAG-AFTRA contract with historic (if not as comprehensive as some would like) protections around artificial intelligence, a new film based entirely on an A.I. recreation of a deceased artist is in the works. Per Variety, Edith, a biopic of the late, great French singer Edith Piaf, will be “first crafted” with A.I. to capture her image and voice, a move sanctioned by Piaf’s estate.

Edith reportedly takes place between Paris and New York from the 1920s to the 1960s. The A.I. generated voice of Piaf will narrate the animated feature, which will include actual recordings of her songs as well as “archival footage of Piaf from TV performances and interviews, stage shows, and her personal library to help bring authenticity to the visual storytelling.” According to Variety, “Warner Music trained AI on hundreds of voice clips and images of Piaf, some of which are over 80 years old.”

“Edith is one of France’s greatest ever artists and she is still a source of so much pride to the French people. It is such a delicate balancing act when combining new technology with heritage artists, and it was imperative to us that we worked closely with Edith’s estate and handled this project with the utmost respect,” said Warner Music France CEO Alain Veille. “Her story is one that deserves to be told, and through this film we’ll be able to connect with a whole new audience and inspire a new generation of fans.”

Filmmaker Julie Veille, who conceived of the project, adds, “It has been the greatest privilege to work alongside Edith’s estate to help bring her story into the 21st century. When creating the film, we kept asking ourselves, ‘If Edith were still with us, what messages would she want to convey to the younger generations?’ Her story is one of incredible resilience, of overcoming struggles, and defying social norms to achieve greatness—and one that is as relevant now as it was then. Our goal is to utilize the latest advancements in animation and technology to bring the timeless story to audiences of all ages.”

Catherine Glavas and Christie Laume, the executors of Piaf’s estate, have indeed given their blessing to the project. Glavas and Laume are the sisters of Piaf’s second husband Théo Sarapo, whom she met in January 1962 and was married to until her death in 1963. Laume wrote a book about the couple’s relationship, The Last Love Of Edith Piaf, published in 2015. “It’s been a special and touching experience to be able to hear Edith’s voice once again—the technology has made it feel like we were back in the room with her,” the sisters said in a statement. “The animation is beautiful and through this film we’ll be able to show the real side of Edith—her joyful personality, her humor and her unwavering spirit.”

An A.I.-backed film is guaranteed to generate controversy, particularly one that uses the technology to revive (in whatever way) a deceased performer. In this case, the filmmakers have every legal right to use the technology to this purpose, even if we couldn’t possibly know what Piaf’s wishes would be. Now, it’ll be up to audiences to decide if this kind of content is something they want to consume.