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Almost a year after Ozzy Osbourne’s death, his family announces his return – at least digitally. The Osbournes teamed up with Hyperreal and Proto Hologram to create an AI-powered Prince of Darkness. The digital Ozzy is due to be available in Proto-Luma units in the UK and US later this summer and be able to talk to his fans again.
Sharon and Jack Osbourne unveiled the project on Wednesday at the Licensing Expo 2026 in Las Vegas. The creation carries “the digital DNA of Ozzy Osbourne – voice, appearance and movement,” Jack said at the event, as License Global reports.
“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,” Sharon explained. “We’ll travel all over the world with it. People can talk to him and he’ll talk back.”
Frighteningly precise
“It’s kind of scary how accurate this all is,” Jack said. “He will exist digitally as himself as long as there are computers. Technology has advanced so much that it’s almost like drag and drop. You could shoot a template for a commercial…literally type in what you want Digital Ozzy to do in the commercial and just paste it in. It’s that easy today.”
Remington Scott, CEO of Hyperreal, tells Rolling Stone that the Ozzy avatar was developed using patented technology that allows the avatar to act in real time. The company uses patented “Digital DNA” technology to collect the data necessary to create the avatars. “He can perform live, respond to audiences and exist in interactive environments,” Scott says. “This isn’t pre-rendered content running on an endless loop. This is a living performance, built entirely from authenticated source material: curated, authorized and controlled by the people closest to Ozzy.”
David Nussbaum, founder of Proto Hologram, reiterates Scott’s statement that only approved material is used for the digital avatars, as both companies have strict ethical principles when using AI. “We don’t take the responsibility of working with artists of this caliber lightly,” he says.
Stan Lee as a role model
Hyperreal previously created a digital avatar for the late Marvel Comics veteran Stan Lee and presented it to the public at LA Comic Con in 2025. Video footage from the digital Lee shows him talking to a Comic Con attendee, raving about Spider-Man as his favorite superhero and explaining the Sandman’s origin story.
“Sharon came to us with real background knowledge: she had already seen the possibilities of this technology in action,” says Nussbaum. “She visited Proto Hologram’s headquarters in Van Nuys, where she was able to experience several projects first-hand – including Hyperreal’s Stan Lee Avatar speaking live to Marvel fans at LA Comic-Con. She even had herself immortalized as a hologram. So she didn’t come to us clueless. She knew the possibilities before she committed – and that’s important to us, because only informed trust is real trust.”
Sharon and Jack spoke about the digital Ozzy in a panel titled “The Enduring Legacy of a Rock Icon and His Family: Ozzy Osbourne and the Osbournes.” License Global reports that mother and son spoke openly about their personal approach to building their brand. “We had a big fight over the rubber duckies,” Jack said, referring to the merchandise from the TV show “The Osbournes.” “I was like, ‘I’m not going to be a rubber duck.'” In the end, the ducks came anyway.
Preserving Ozzy’s legacy
“Elvis has been dead for 50 years, and yet everyone knows him,” Sharon said at the event. “That’s exactly what I want for Ozzy.”
“It’s an honor to be entrusted with bringing one of rock’s true gods back into the world to continue connecting with his fans – thank you, Sharon and Jack!” says Nussbaum. “We wouldn’t be doing it if we didn’t know that both companies’ technologies are creating an experience that truly carries Ozzy’s presence, his heart and soul, into the future.”
“Every shot, every video, every photo captures a moment,” says Scott. “What Hyperreal and Proto build captures something deeper: presence. The reason people love Ozzy isn’t just the music – it’s that he gave himself to his fans in such a way that they felt like they really knew him. That’s rare. That’s worth preserving. The goal is that a child who discovers Ozzy in ten years will experience the same connection – not a museum exhibit, but Ozzy as Ozzy.”
