Praise from judge: AI-generated likeness of a dead man speaks out in US court
Before the judge could announce the sentence for a manslaughter in the US state of Arizona, the man who was killed made his own statement – thanks to AI.
The AI image of Christopher Pelkey
(Image: Stacey Wales)
Before the sentencing decision in a trial for a homicide in the US state of Arizona, the victim's sister played an AI-generated video of her brother in which his image not only addresses the judge. This emerges from the film that has now been made public and reports from the US media. According to one expert, what was surprising was how well the generated film was received; the judge explicitly thanked him for it and then called the victim – by his first name, contrary to – custom. "I loved that AI," Judge Todd Lang said, according to another video released by the victim's sister. The defendant was subsequently sentenced to the maximum sentence of ten and a half years in prison.
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As the Washington Post explains, the trial was about the killing of a man named Christopher Pelkey in November 2021 at a traffic light in the city of Chandler, Arizona. He was shot dead by a man who had honked at him. The man's guilt was therefore determined by a jury in March; the hearing that has now been scheduled was only about determining the sentence. The judge was responsible for this, before which relatives of the victim and representatives of the prosecution and the defendant were allowed to speak. According to the victim's sister, she had previously written a statement for the occasion and kept hearing her dead brother's voice in her head, writes NPR.
Enthusiastic judge
Within a few days, her husband and a business partner had created the AI-generated video of her brother, but the words themselves did not come from algorithms. The sister wrote them and together they put them into the mouth of the AI image. The video that has now been made public has small dropouts in the sound, but the image itself is stable. The generated image first thanks everyone involved for their actions since his death and for their help during the court proceedings. There are also personal words for the judge. It says to the defendant: "In another life, we might have been friends". This is followed by regret at not being able to experience old age and finally: "I'm going fishing."
Videos by heise
The judge in charge later declared, "I believe that was real." The reactions on site were also extremely positive. The Washington Post quotes law professor Diana Bowman as saying that this was surprising. Recently, there have been repeated cases of AI-generated texts and even videos in court, and the reactions have always been devastating. In Arizona, things were probably different because the AI video was only played when the jury was no longer present. Furthermore, the fact that it is an AI creation is not concealed. According to the US newspaper, the judge asked for a copy so that he could show it to his colleagues. The sister herself had not previously shown the film to her family or the court.
(mho)
