this post was submitted on 08 May 2025
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A Judge Accepted AI Video Testimony From a Dead Man (www.404media.co)
submitted 2 days ago by riot@slrpnk.net to c/technology@lemmy.world
118 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

An AI avatar made to look and sound like the likeness of a man who was killed in a road rage incident addressed the court and the man who killed him: “To Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me, it is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances,” the AI avatar of Christopher Pelkey said. “In another life we probably could have been friends. I believe in forgiveness and a God who forgives. I still do.”

It was the first time the AI avatar of a victim—in this case, a dead man—has ever addressed a court, and it raises many questions about the use of this type of technology in future court proceedings. 

The avatar was made by Pelkey’s sister, Stacey Wales. Wales tells 404 Media that her husband, Pelkey’s brother-in-law, recoiled when she told him about the idea. “He told me, ‘Stacey, you’re asking a lot.’”

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[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 158 points 1 day ago (3 children)

To Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me, it is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances,” the AI avatar of Christopher Pelkey said. “In another life we probably could have been friends. I believe in forgiveness and a God who forgives. I still do.”

I find this nauseatingly disgusting and a disgrace that this was shown in a court of all places.

No, this man does not believe in forgiveness or a God because he's dead. He never said this, somebody wrote this script and a computer just made a video off it with his likeness.

Fuck everything about this, this should be prohibited

[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

This wasn't testimony, it was an impact statement.

Impact statements are wild and crazy and this isn't surprising in anyway

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

No, this wasn't an impact statement either.

This was a huntch of pixels moved around by a huge wasteful amount of CPU power. The actual victim is dead, he can't talk and people are putting words in his mouth and it shouldn't be allowed.

[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 1 points 12 minutes ago* (last edited 8 minutes ago)

It was literally in the article explaining that this was presented as the victim impact statement.

Have you learned nothing about modern "news" ? Dont be part of the problem of spreading misinformation, be diligent and responsible. And ita okay to make mistakes, own them and move forward. Its not easy to get your information correct everytime, theres no shame in that, only in ignoring your responsibility to self correct voluntarily when you find out

Peace be upon you, we need to work together, because even though I'm calling out the inaccuracy in your comment, i do believe using this technology for this purpose is heinous

Edit: from the NPR article as its not paywalled

But the use of AI for a victim impact statement appears novel, according to Maura Grossman, a professor at the University of Waterloo who has studied the applications of AI in criminal and civil cases. She added, that she did not see any major legal or ethical issues in Pelkey's case.

"Because this is in front of a judge, not a jury, and because the video wasn't submitted as evidence per se, its impact is more limited," she told NPR via email.

[–] Manifish_Destiny@lemmy.world 47 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Time to update my will.

[–] bampop@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

"Hi, I'm Manifish_Destiny speaking to you from beyond the grave. I'm happy to say that even though I had some skepticism of AI avatars and even put something about that in my will, I just didn't understand its potential to embody my true self. But now I do, so you can disregard all that. Come to think of it, you can disregard the rest of the will as well, I've got some radical new ideas..."