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Christopher Pelkey
Christopher Pelkey’s family, killed in an incident of traffic violence in Arizona in 2021, used artificial intelligence to portray the victim to submit his own statements while reading his killer’s sentence.
Three and a half years after being murdered in a shooting after a Road Rage incident in Chandler, Arizona, Christopher Pelkey (or rather, something like him) appeared in court to address his killer.
Pelkey’s family used artificial intelligence to recreate the victim’s voice and generate a video with his statements – directed at Gabriel Horcasitasthe man who killed him in 2021.
Chris Pelkey’s statements were filed while reading the Horcasites sentence, which took place this week in an Arizona court.
According to Christopher Pelkey’s sister, the brother -in -law and a friend used AI technology to recreate her image, using video clips recorded while she was alive.
The video does not have an exemplary quality (there is deep fakes much more convincing to circulate on the net), but this will be one of the first, but even the first caseof an impact declaration of victim generated by being used in court, says the British newspaper.
“Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot meit’s a pity we’ve found that day in those circumstances, ”says Pelkey’s video recording.“ In another life, probably We could have been friends“.
“I believe in forgiveness and in a god who forgives. I have always believed and still believe it, ”continues Pelkey, who presents himself with a gray baseball cap and the same thick, redheaded and brown beard that wore in life.
Pelkey, deeply religious and veteran of Afghanistan, was 37 years old when he was murdered.
The incident occurred in 2021, when Horcasites and Pelkey stopped in a red traffic light. Pelkey left his vehicle and drove to the Horcasites carwhich shot him mortally.
Speaking to, Pelkey’s sister, Stacey WalesHe says he had a recurring thought while gathered the more than 40 statements with which Chris’s family and friends helped create the video. “All that came to my mind was: What would Chris say?”.
Wales and her husband fueled AI model with Pelkey’s videos and audio, to try to create a representation that corresponded to the “feelings and thoughts of a still alive” – something that Wales compared to a “Frankenstein de Amor“.
According to, Pelkey’s virtual presence in reading the sentence was well accepted by the judge Todd lang – who considered Horcasites guilty of the accusation of involuntary murder and condemned him to 10 and a half years of arrest.
“I loved this one, thanks for that. As angry as they arehowever justifiably angry the family is, I heard forgiveness“Said Lang.” I feel it was genuine. “
Also Pelkey’s brother, John, was pleased with the initiative. “I felt waves of healing as I saw my brother’s face, I believe Chris would have forgiven his killer. That was the man I knew“John said.
A Artificial Intelligence has been useful to justice. In 2019, AI facial recognition software helped the authorities capture a homicide suspect that had killed his girlfriend, recalls the. At the time, the software caught the killer in the act trying to scan the victim’s face to apply for a bank loan.
The powerful use of AI in the case of Pelkey seems unbelievable, but it really happened. The president of the Supreme Court of Arizona, Ann A. Scott Timmerrecognized the usefulness of AI in the simplification of the judicial process, but also warned of the risks that its use can bring.
According to Scott Timmer, Artificial Intelligence can prevent justice from doing – or even cause your application wrong – if used irresponsibly.
In response to the growing concerns about the use of AI in the judicial process, the Supreme Court of Arizona has certainly created a special committee to establish Responsible Use Guidelines and ensure adequate and ethical uses in future processes.
