AI brings Orson Welles back as virtual tour guide

Orson Welles returns as an AI-generated voice nearly four decades after his death, bringing his iconic vocal presence to location-based storytelling app Storyrabbit. This partnership between podcast company Treefort Media and the Orson Welles Estate represents a growing trend of reviving cultural icons through AI voice technology, blending nostalgia with cutting-edge tech to create new forms of interactive entertainment experiences.

How it works: Storyrabbit generates personalized 60-90 second audio stories about specific locations, delivered by the host of your choice, including the newly added Welles voice option.

• The app uses your current location or a selected point of interest to craft these bite-sized narratives about film, TV, history and culture.
• Storyrabbit describes the experience as “having your own audio tour guide for the world in your pocket with unlimited stories to tell.”
• The company developed Welles’ AI voice in collaboration with Younite.ai, using licensed audio from his estate.

The business model: Storyrabbit is initially offering the Welles voice experience for free until June 1, after which it will cost $4.99 per month.

• Other narrator options include actor Dominic Monaghan (“Lord of the Rings,” “Lost”) as the “wild guide” and author/TV host Candice DeLong voicing the “true crime guide.”

Ethical considerations: The company emphasizes its commitment to responsible AI use in recreating the voice of Welles, who died in 1985 at age 70.

• Storyrabbit claims to employ “ethical AI practices” and ensures “all narratives are human-curated, authentic and responsibly produced.”
• The partnership received explicit approval from the Orson Welles Estate, legitimizing this posthumous digital resurrection.

What they’re saying: Representatives from both the Welles estate and Storyrabbit frame this collaboration as an extension of the filmmaker’s innovative legacy.

• “Orson was a relentless innovator, who worked effortlessly across multiple platforms during his long and storied career, so bringing his voice into this new medium feels like a continuation of that legacy,” said David Reeder of Reeder Brand Management, representing the Orson Welles Estate.
• Kelly Garner, founder and CEO of Treefort Media and Storyrabbit creator, called the integration “extraordinary,” offering users a perspective that is “simultaneously nostalgic and forward-looking.”