The family of a man fatally shot in a 2021 traffic altercation in Arizona created an AI likeness that allowed the victim to appear virtually at his killer’s sentencing.
According to NPR, AI experts believe it’s the first time the technology has been used in the U.S. to create an impact statement spoken by a dead victim in court.
The artificially recreated version of Chris Pelkey delivered the statement last week, thanking the judge who oversaw the trial and stressing the importance of forgiveness.
“This here is a representation of who I was, not how the court portrayed me,” his AI likeness said in a video shared online by Pelkey’s sister on Monday.
Stacey Wells wrote on YouTube that she, her husband and a friend created the digital reanimation of her brother using old images and an audio file from an interview recorded before he died. They poured that information, along with a script she wrote, into an AI program and came up with a replica of Pelkey.
“To Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me, it is a shame we encountered each other that day and those circumstances,” Pelkey’s AI representation said to the defendant who gunned down the 37-year-old Army veteran. “In another life we could’ve probably been friends.”
On Nov. 13, 2021 in Chandler, Ariz., Pelkey reportedly got out of his car at a stoplight and approached Horcasitas’ automobile, which was stopped behind his. The 50-year-old shooter then opened fire. The pair had allegedly gotten into a road rage incident that led to the shooting, according to Arizona station ABC15.
While Pelkey may have spent his final moments upset, his AI likeness struck a conciliatory tone in court last week.
“I believe in forgiveness and in God who forgives,” the AI version of Pelkey said. “I always have and I still do.”
Nearly 50 other living people also gave impact statements on Pelkey’s behalf.
Horcasitas was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to more than 10 years in prison.
