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Why a US court allowed a dead man to deliver his own victim impact statement – via an AI avatar (theconversation.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/generative_ai@mander.xyz
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In November 2021, in the city of Chandler, Arizona, Chris Pelkey was shot and killed by Gabriel Horcasitas in a road rage altercation.

Horcasitas was tried and convicted of reckless manslaughter.

When it was time for Horcasitas to be sentenced by a judge, Pelkey’s family knew they wanted to make a statement – known as a “victim impact statement” – explaining to the judge who Pelkey had been when he was alive.

They found they couldn’t get the words right.

The solution for them turned out to be having Pelkey speak for himself by creating an AI-generated avatar that used his face and voice, allowing him to “talk” directly to the judge.

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[–] 22 points 1 year ago (1 child)

The article authors are equating an avatar speaking what family thinks the victim would say with the victim speaking for himself. That is not the same thing and the judge should not have allowed it.

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    • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    Uh, this seems hella bad.

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    [–] 9 points 1 year ago

    AI avatar of the victim spoke of forgiveness. Family that created it asked for the maximum sentence, more than the prosecutors, and the judge delivered the maximum, saying he could hear the genuine forgiveness in the AI voice.

    This sounds like some black mirror doublespeak.

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    [–] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Did he prepare the statement before he died?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Article says his sister wrote the words, and she and her husband created the avatar.

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