Sharon and Jack Osbourne have struck back at allegations that their plan to generate an AI avatar of Ozzy is a “cash grab”.
During the new episode of the family’s podcast The Osbournes, the mother and son tackle the fallout from their announcement last month that they are producing a new AI program with “the digital DNA of Ozzy Osbourne”.
Many on social media accused the family of “cashing in” on or “milking” Ozzy’s legacy after the news broke, claims that the two reject. Ozzy’s wife Sharon says she “feels sorry” for the people lambasting the idea.
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“Well, you know what, technology moves on,” she says (via Consequence). “And I’m sorry for those people. I’m not asking you to come. I don’t want your fucking money. I don’t need your fucking money. I’m doing very well.”
She adds that she thinks Ozzy would be in favour of the project: “For somebody to turn around to me and say I’m doing a cash grab? No, you don’t know my husband, OK? I know my husband. My husband would say to me over and over, ‘After I go, how long do you think I’ll be remembered?’”
Jack adds, “Either we do it or someone else is gonna do it. And for me, it’s not about pretending he’s still alive. It’s making sure he’s never forgotten.”
Ozzy died on July 22, 2025, aged 71, after suffering a heart attack at his home in Buckinghamshire. He had retired from the stage two weeks earlier at the Back To The Beginning concert in his hometown of Birmingham. He played sets both as a solo artist and with his fellow founding members of Black Sabbath at the event, with support coming from rock and metal heavyweights including Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool, Gojira and Mastodon.
Plans for an interactive AI avatar modelled after him were unveiled during a panel called The Enduring Legacy Of A Rock Icon And His Family: Ozzy Osbourne And The Osbournes at the Licensing Expo 2026 in Las Vegas. Jack said that “it’s kind of scary” how true the avatar will be to the singer’s mannerisms.
“He will exist digitally as himself for as long as we have computers,” he continued. “Technology has come such a long way to where it’s almost drag and drop. 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.”
Sharon added, “You can ask 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.”
The avatar is being produced by Hyperreal, who in 2021 made an officially licensed de-aged AI Paul McCartney for the former Beatle’s song Find My Way Back, featuring Beck. CEO Remington Scott commented, “The technology to de-age talent and have them perform in creative environments like this is now fully-realised, even with one of the most recognised faces in the world.”
As well as an AI avatar dedicated to the Prince Of Darkness, Jack is currently overseeing the development of an Ozzy biopic. He revealed last month that a script has been written and that it will come out in 2028 or later.
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