Rocker Ozzy Osbourne was a flamboyant stage presence with his band Black Sabbath, and later he was a goofy reality TV dad on MTV's The Osbournes. A year after his death at 75, he may be on the verge of making a new kind of impression -- as an AI-powered hologram.

His family has partnered with a company called Hyperreal, which has created other holograms, including one of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, to plan the Ozzy AI project.

His widow, Sharon, and son Jack have been exploring this possibility for a decade. Despite fan criticism, the rocker's family said on Friday's episode of their podcast, The Osbournes, that they consider it a smart use of new technology.

"It's like saying, 'Why do you need a CD when you have a vinyl record?'" Sharon Osbourne said, addressing fan complaints. "You move with the times."

Jack Osbourne called the Ozzy avatar a "digital imprint," not a hologram.

On the podcast, he read what he called the top five fan criticisms of the Ozzy AI project, including quotes from one person who called the Ozzy project "ChatGPT with a face."

Jack Osbourne took issue with that comment in particular, noting that the Ozzy figure would not be making up information, only citing facts provided to it about Ozzy's real life.

"This isn't ChatGPT with Dad's face on it," he said. "This is a closed AI, so it's not connected to the internet. We build a database. And the thing that I can't emphasize enough is that, this is only information that either my Dad said or that was written accurately about him."

The project would fit in with Ozzy's concerns about his legacy, Sharon Osbourne said. "My husband would say to me over and over, 'After I go, how long do you think I'll be remembered?'" 

From ABBA to Whitney Houston

The Osbournes didn't reveal details on how fans might see or interact with Ozzy's digital imprint. But he wouldn't be the first celebrity to return in digital form.

In 2020, Kanye West surprised his then-wife, Kim Kardashian, with a hologram of her late father, O.J. Simpson's lawyer, Robert Kardashian. (The image called West the "most, most, most, most, most genius man in the whole world.")  The Kardashian hologram did not interact with viewers; instead, it delivered encouraging words meant for Kim Kardashian, who was 22 when her father died in 2003.

A concert event featuring a hologram of the late Whitney Houston ran for two years in Europe and Las Vegas. The show featured a holographic version of Houston singing digitally remastered versions of her past live performances, and included a five-piece live band, backup singers and choreographed dancers.

Digital celebrities are created in different ways. Many hologram-style performances create images of stars who have died. But the members of beloved Swedish pop group ABBA are still with us, and actively participated in creating their show. ABBA members donned motion-capture suits while performing their hits, creating the dance moves now performed by computer-generated versions meant to represent how the band members looked in 1979. The virtual band performs in a London concert experience called ABBA Voyage.

Hyperreal created its avatar of the late Stan Lee to be displayed in a giant box called Proto Luma. 

"The Luma delivers truly life-like presence with high-fidelity speakers, 4K video and a touchscreen so users can interact as if they are in the same room as the hologram," the Hyperreal site says.

According to the LA Times, Lee's interactive avatar responded to questions from Los Angeles Comic Con attendees using decades of the Marvel Comics leader's real words, drawn from his interviews and writings.

It's not clear if Ozzy Osbourne would appear in a Luma box and interact with fans in this same way.

A representative for Hyperreal didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ozzy's legacy

Some fans, as Jack and Sharon Osbourne noted, remain skeptical. In the YouTube comments below the podcast video, where the two discuss and defend their venture, fans posted comments similar to those Jack called out in the video.

"You don't need AI to keep Ozzy remembered, his fans will NEVER forget..." wrote one fan.

Ozzy Osbourne lives on in other ways. Jack Osbourne said recently that a biopic about his father is planned for 2028. He and his wife, Aree, named their new daughter, born March 5, Ozzy Matilda Osbourne.

In May, Jack and Sharon Osbourne attended Licensing Expo 2026, where they publicly discussed the plans for a digital Ozzy.

"Elvis died 50 years ago, and everybody knows Elvis," Sharon said at the event, according to an article in License Global. "I just want that for Ozzy."

The hologram would be true to life, after a fashion.

"You can ask Ozzy anything, and he will answer you in his own voice -- and the answers will be what Ozzy would have said," she said at the expo. "We're going to take it all around the world. People can talk to him, and he will talk back."

Wild, but that's how it goes.