Beginning next weekend and for the following three weekends, I will be one of the lead voices with recollections, stories, and interviews in a fascinating series about, easily, the most fascinating man who ever strode a basketball court.
It’s called “Goliath”, and I am heavily featured in the 3-part documentary that tells the story of the most compelling athlete in basketball history…and yes, that includes Michael Jordan.
What makes this series so groundbreaking, and I don’t fully know how I feel about it, is that Wilt Chamberlain narrates the series with things he NEVER said.
That’s right, besides my real interviews, Wilt’s voice and observations are recreated by AI.
Using AI to recreate Wilt’s voice, the Hall of Famer will narrate his own story with archival footage provided by the Wilt Chamberlain Estate. Beginning with his emergence on the national scene as a high schooler in the 1950’s and following the arc of his life through his death in 1999, each episode will explore a specific element of Chamberlain’s cultural impact, focusing on the areas of power, money, race, sex, politics, and celebrity.
The series is getting some great reviews from film festivals… and I spent many, many hours telling stories, including personal photos with my time (and man, there were some good times), I had with Wilt.
However, I’m really not sure about AI recreating Wilt’s voice and representing him in ways, perhaps, he didn’t want to represent himself.
This is Pandora’s box of legitimacy problems that we can’t completely grasp right now. This is the new frontier…”interviewing and showing clips of something that didn’t exist. And yet, it was plausible that Wilt WOULD have said those things.
Anyway, the series, produced by Kevin Garnett’s production company, is going to cause quite a stir for many different reasons.
I can tell you though, I’m glad to be a big part of it, because no artificial intelligence could ever dream of a player and a personality quite like Wilt Chamberlain.
Don’t miss “Goliath” on Showtime next week.
I know I won’t.
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