Nearly a year has passed since Ozzy Osbourne died, but his family says his presence will return — digitally. The Osbournes have partnered with Hyperreal and Proto Hologram to create an AI-powered Prince of Darkness. Digital Ozzy will now be able to speak again with his fans and be available in Proto Luma units in the U.K. and U.S. later this summer.
Sharon and Jack Osbourne announced the endeavor on Wednesday at Licensing Expo 2026 in Las Vegas. The creation bears “the digital DNA of Ozzy Osbourne, voice, image [and] movement,” Jack said at the event, according to License Global.
“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 said. “We’re going to take it all around the world. People can talk to him and he will talk back.”
“It’s kind of scary how it’s really very accurate,” Jack said. “He 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. 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.”
The CEO of Hyperreal, Remington Scott, tells Rolling Stone that it created the Ozzy avatar using patented technology that allows the avatar to operate in real time. The company uses patented “Digital DNA” technology to gather the data it needs to create the avatars. “It can perform live, respond to audiences, and exist within interactive environments,” Scott says. “This isn’t pre-rendered content playing on a loop. It’s a living performance, built exclusively from authenticated source material: curated, consented, and controlled by the people closest to Ozzy.”
David Nussbaum, Proto Hologram’s founder, reaffirms Scott’s statement about using only approved material to source the digital avatars since both his company and Hyperreal adhere to strict ethics regarding AI. “We don’t take the responsibility of working with artists of this stature lightly,” he says.
Hyperreal previously created a digital avatar for the late Marvel Comics honcho Stan Lee, which it premiered at L.A. Comic Con in 2025. Video of the digital Lee shows him interacting with a Comic Con attendee, extolling the virtues of Spider-Man as his favorite superhero, and explaining the origins of the Sandman.
“Sharon came to this with real context: She had already seen what this technology can do,” Nussbaum says. “She visited Proto Hologram’s headquarters in Van Nuys, where she saw multiple projects firsthand, including Hyperreal’s avatar of Stan Lee that held live conversations with Marvel fans at LA Comic-Con. She’s even become a hologram herself. So she wasn’t walking in cold. She understood the capability before she committed; that matters to us, because informed trust is the only kind worth having.”
Sharon and Jack discussed 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 were candid about their hands-on approach to cultivating their branding. “We had a huge argument about the [branded] rubber ducks,” Jack said, remarking on merch tied to the TV show The Osbournes. “I was like, ‘I will not be a rubber duck.’” But ultimately, the ducks came out.
“Elvis died 50 years ago, and everybody knows Elvis,” Sharon said at the event. “I just want that for Ozzy.”
“It’s an honor to be trusted to bring one of true gods of rock back to the world to continue to connect with fans — thank you Sharon and Jack!” Nussbaum says. “We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t know both of our company’s technologies will create an experience that truly extends Ozzy’s presence, his heart and soul, into the future.”
“Every recording, every video, every photograph captures a moment,” Scott says. “What Hyperreal and Proto are building captures something more: the presence. The reason people love Ozzy isn’t just the music; it’s that he gave himself to his fans in a way where they genuinely felt they knew him. That’s rare. That’s worth preserving. The goal is that a kid who discovers Ozzy ten years from now gets to experience that same connection, not a museum piece, but Ozzy as Ozzy.”
