Jack and Sharon Osborne Defend ‘Accurate’ Recreation of Ozzy in AI Project: ‘It’s Not About Pretending He’s Still Alive’

Staff AuthorFri, June 5, 2026 at 9:44 PM UTC

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Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne and Jack Osbourne in Cleveland, Ohio in October 2024.Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty -

Sharon and Jack Osbourne are creating an AI version of Ozzy Osbourne to preserve his legacy for future generations

The project uses "digital DNA" technology and is controlled by the family to ensure accuracy and authenticity

Jack said Ozzy supported the idea before his death and emphasized it's about innovation, not pretending he's alive

Sharon and Jack Osbourne are paying no mind to critics of their recently unveiled plan to digitize their late patriarchOzzy Osbourne in AI form.

Sharon, 73, and her son Jack, 40, opened up about the Ozzy AI project on The Osbournes podcast on Friday, June 5, and emphasized that they were simply moving with the technological times.

"Technology moves on," Sharon said. "For somebody to turn around to me and say I'm doing a cash grab, no. You don't know my husband. I know my husband. And my husband would say to me over and over: 'How long do you think I'll be remembered?'"

For Sharon and Jack, the project is a way to keep the Prince of Darkness's legacy alive following his death in July 2025 at age 76.

Ozzy Osbourne in Los Angeles in July 2022.Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

"[It's something] that will pass on through our family, and it's for our grandkids," Sharon said.

Jack, meanwhile, explained that the project is "closed AI," which means it's not connected to the internet and is reliant on a database containing "only information that either my dad said or was written accurately about him."

"This is going to be tasteful and the reaction… It's innovative. It's either we do it or someone else is gonna do it," Jack said. "For me, it's not about pretending he's still alive. It's making sure he's never forgotten."

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The pair announced the avatar in May at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, saying at the time that Ozzy will "exist digitally as himself for as long as we have computers."

"Technology has come such a long way to where it's almost drag and drop," Jack reportedly said at the event. "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."

Ozzy Osbourne in Burbank, Calif. in February 2020.Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty

The company behind the project, Hyperreal, uses patented "digital DNA" technology to create the avatars. The company's chief executive told Billboard that Ozzy's was made from "authenticated, approved source material: curated, consented and controlled by the people who love him most."

Jack previously defended the decision to make the avatar in May, saying in a YouTube livestream that it's "not gonna be f---ing lame."

"It's really complex what we're doing. This isn't just like, hooking up an image of my dad to ChatGPT," he said, adding that he'd previously spoken to his dad about the idea, and Ozzy was on board.

"It's really cool, and it's something that I think my dad would be into," Jack said. "We actually talked about it before he passed, about doing something like this … I know he would be into this."

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”