The most interesting hypothesis, bordering on conspiracy theory, I've heard about Hawking recently is that by 2000 or shortly after, his communication bandwidth

The most interesting hypothesis, bordering on conspiracy theory, I've heard about Hawking recently is that by 2000 or shortly after, his communication bandwidth was so low that it's impossible to know if virtually all his more complex communication, lectures, etc. were scripted by those in his inner circle. Suggesting that famous people traded on his name may not go far enough. Was Hawking, post-~2000, merely a vehicle through which his inner circle of students/collaborators/children got access to an audience? Who had access to his voice synthesizer, and could it could be overridden remotely? Hardly anything he said would have been "live" other than simple yes/no answers or, in less formal contexts where people would wait for them, short phrases. His talks were certainly not live communication; they were pre-written (raising the question, by whom?) even if nobody was using him as a puppet in realtime. At what point did any of it, any of his interactions, stop being live or genuine? Who would know about and reveal any unethical behavior, especially if it meant revealing their own abuse of access to gain an audience for their own work or interests?