A departure of a late man spoke to his murderer before a court in Arizona. The digital clone by Chris Pelkey created by his sister surprised with a message of forgiveness. A precedent with far -reaching consequences for the use of AI in legal proceedings.
Ki-Avatar speaks from the hereafter
In an unprecedented legal proceedings in the US state of Arizona, an avatar of a late man has addressed his murderer by artificial intelligence. Christopher Pelkey, who was shot in a confrontation in road traffic in 2021, “spoke” to Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who killed him during the judgment. “(An) Gabriel Horcasitas, the guy who shot me on me, it is really a shame that we met under these circumstances that day,” said the Ki-Pelkey, who was a believing person and war veteran in real life. “In another life we could probably have been friends. I believe in forgiveness and a god who forgives. I have always done that and still do it.”
Technology in the service of coping with grief
His sister Stacey Wales had created the Ki-Avatar after she had dealt with the question for months what her brother would say about his murderer. How 404 Media reports, used Wales’ husband to create the video Stable diffusion with a low-rank adaptation (LORA) and generative AI as well as deep learning processes to clone Pelkey’s voice.
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“Our goal was to make the judge cry. Our goal was to bring Chris to life and present him humanly,” Wales told 404 Media. The four-minute clip started with a disclaimer that emphasizes that it was a AI reconstruction: “Hello, only for clarification for everyone who sees this: I am a version of Chris Pelkey reproduced by AI who uses my picture and my voice profile.”
Judge is impressed
Judge Todd Lang reacted positively to the unusual use of technology: “I thought the AI was really great, thanks. Long Horcasitas sentenced to ten and a half years in prison for manslaughter – the maximum penalty.
The case probably marks the first use of AI for a victim statement in a legal proceedings and raises important questions about the use of this technology in legal proceedings. According to Jessica Gattuso, the victim lawyer who worked with Pelkey’s family, Arizona’s laws enabled this form of statement: “We have a declaration of victim. The victims can decide for themselves the form they want to make their statement.”
