Ozzy Osbourne will return from beyond the grave – not as a terrifying spectre, but as a friendly AI avatar designed to chat with fans. Nearly a year on from the legendary frontman's death, the self-styled Prince of Darkness will be recreated as a hologram based on his likeness and personality.
Family Agreement with Tech Companies
Sharon Osbourne says the family has inked an agreement with AI avatar company Hyperreal and Proto Hologram, which specialises in lifelike 3D holograms. Fans will be able to speak with the AI recreation as soon as this summer in the UK and the US.
Speaking at Licensing Expo 2026, Mrs Osbourne said: 'You can ask [the digital] Ozzy anything, and he will answer you in his own voice – and the answers will be what Ozzy would have said. We're going to take it all around the world. People can talk to him and he will talk back.' She added: 'Elvis died 50 years ago, and everybody knows Elvis. I just want that for Ozzy.'
How the Technology Works
Hyperreal says that it has recreated the Black Sabbath icon's personality using patented 'Digital DNA' technology. CEO Remington Scott told the Daily Mail that this 'captures all four dimensions of a person's identity: likeness, voice, motion, and performance character.' Mr Scott adds that this data comes from 'authenticated source material: curated, consented, and controlled by the people closest to Ozzy'. What this means in practice is that the digital avatar will be able to interact with fans in real time in a way that approximates Ozzy's real mannerisms. However, Hyperreal didn't comment on whether their AI rendering would censor Ozzy's famously foul language.
The digital avatar will then be rendered using holographic displays created by Proto Hologram. The Los Angeles–based company is a specialist in life-size 3D display boxes that can make it appear like someone is really standing in the room. In the past, they have used this technology to allow celebrities to appear live at events from the other side of the world and to let fans digitally meet their idols.
Proto Hologram says that the Ozzy Osbourne avatar will appear in its 86-inch (2.18 metre) Proto Luma units. David Nussbaum, founder of Proto Hologram, told the Daily Mail: 'Sharon came to this with real context: she had already seen what this technology can do. Sharon has said she sees Ozzy as the Elvis of his era. Elvis lives forever in every new medium that comes along – and so will Ozzy.'
Commercial and Personal Implications
Jack Osbourne, Ozzy's youngest son, told reporters: 'It's kind of scary how it's really very accurate. He will exist digitally as himself for as long as we have computers.' While the companies have stressed the goal of enabling fan interactions, Jack also revealed the digital clone's commercial ambitions. 'Technology has come such a long way to where it's almost drag-and-drop,' he told Licence Global. 'You could shoot a template for a commercial … literally prompt what you want Digital Ozzy to do in that commercial and you just drop it in. It's that simple now.'
Previous Uses of the Technology
This is not the first time that Hyperreal and Proto Hologram have brought a dead celebrity back from the grave. In 2025, the companies created a digital avatar of the late Marvel Comics head Stan Lee, which premiered at the Los Angeles Comic Con. Videos showed fans interacting with the avatar, which talked about Mr Lee's love of Spider-Man and explained the origins of some of his famous characters. In another shocking move, the companies also brought back a widow's deceased husband to appear at his own wake. During the memorial service, around 200 people gathered to pay their respects, only to see the man they were supposed to be mourning appear to give a speech. Pam Cronrath, 78, who commissioned the digital memorial, said that the stunt cost 10 to 15 times her original $2,000 (£1,480) budget.
Expert Warnings on 'Deadbots'
Researchers from the University of Cambridge have warned that these so-called 'deadbots' could cause psychological harm and even digitally 'haunt' those left behind. In their study, ethicists at Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence examined three hypothetical scenarios likely to emerge as part of the fast-growing 'digital afterlife industry'. Firstly, the bots could be used to surreptitiously advertise products from beyond the grave or cremation urn, the authors warn. Secondly, they could distress children by insisting a dead parent is still 'with you'. And finally, the departed could be used to spam surviving family and friends with reminders and updates about the services they provide – a scenario they describe as being 'stalked by the dead'. After an initial period of comfort, the app may start to hassle the user for instance by suggesting ordering from food delivery services in the voice and style of the deceased. 'These services run the risk of causing huge distress to people if they are subjected to unwanted digital hauntings from alarmingly accurate AI recreations of those they have lost,' said co-author Dr Tomasz Hollanek. 'The potential psychological effect, particularly at an already difficult time, could be devastating.'
