“I’d rather have my immortality while I’m alive. I don’t care if it lasts beyond me at all. I’d just as soon it didn’t.”: But Jerry Garcia Foundation teams up with AI company to create Garcia voice model [Video]

It’s getting on for 30 years since Jerry Garcia passed away, but Deadheads now have an opportunity to hear the voice of the band once more – through the power of AI. A new partnership with ElevenLabs, an AI audio research company and the guitarist’s estate has produced a Garcia-voice model that can read all sorts of written content.

So audiobooks, poetry, recipe instructions and more can now be heard in Garcia’s much-missed husky tones. And not just in English, but in 32 different languages via the app ElevenLabs have developed.

In addition to the ElevenReader, Garcia’s voice model will also be used in a number of upcoming projects associated with the Jerry Garcia Foundation. This could include narrated documentaries, audio art exhibits and more.

Garcia is not the first famous voice ElevenLabs has preserved in this way. Similar models featuring icons such as Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds …