On the 50th anniversary of his death, which occurred on October 25, 1975, he is back. Among events and initiatives to mark the anniversary, one stands out for trying to take this return literally, creating a digital simulacrum of the journalist murdered by what became one of the martyrs of political openness in Brazil.
In a project by journalist Paulo Markun, Vlado’s co-worker, friend and biographer, and digital activist who works with artificial intelligence, a tool sought to recreate Herzog’s voice and was fed with information from a database made up of books, letters, reports and various articles about the character’s life and professional trajectory.
Herzog’s voice was restored from the only two records available, a brief interview for the BBC, where he was director of journalism when he was killed and Markun, head of reporting, and the BBC, where he also worked.
Markun’s project – author of “Meu Querido Vlado” (Objetiva, 2005) and organizer of “Vlado – Portrait of a man and a time” (Brasiliense, 1985) – is endorsed by the Vladimir Herzog Institute, chaired by .
The database contains information only up to the morning of October 25, 1974, when Herzog spontaneously presented himself to give a statement at the DOI-Codi in São Paulo, about his involvement with the PCB (Brazilian Communist Party), of which he was a member, as was Markun. There, he was tortured to death, initially presented by the dictatorship as suicide — a hoax that would later be unmasked.
The report tested the AI device firsthand, asking questions to Vlado’s chatbot created by the tool. The result is surprising due to the accuracy of the information and the similarity with the journalist’s voice.
The robot acts to emulate a human chat, repeating the interlocutor’s name throughout the conversation and beginning its responses with observations, such as “it’s a pleasure talking to you” or “that’s a difficult/delicate question”.
All responses end with a similar formulation, to publicize the work of the NGO that bears the journalist’s name and works to preserve his memory: “Would you like to know something more? The collection of the Vladimir Herzog Institute has information about… [o tema da pergunta]”.
Herzog’s simulacrum will be tried out by Markun, on a stage, on the 30th, when he, fellow journalists Caco Barcellos (TV Globo) and Mariana Castro (Fast Company) and the audience will ask questions to the chatbot, at a Sesc event.
The following day, at the same event, Markun participates in the debate “AI, ethics and the construction of historical memory”, with USP professors Eugênio Bucci and Leonardo Foletto.
It’s necessary care, says Markun, when exploring delicate, swampy terrain.
“Artificial intelligence cannot be taken lightly. It is very dangerous. But I understand that, with due precautions, it can be an instrument for elucidating certain issues and mobilizing younger people to bring them closer to a character like Vlado, who is so important and, in a certain sense, still little known.”
What Herzog’s chatbot says*
*Excerpts of answers from the artificial intelligence tool based on questions tested by the report, edited with cuts for space and brevity
Could you briefly tell the story of your life until you became a recognized journalist?
Well, in short, I was born in Yugoslavia, fled the war with my parents and lived in Italy, where I had to change my name to Aldo, so as not to arouse suspicion. Then we came to Brazil. I started in journalism at Estadão, influenced by theater friends and the professor [Mário Leônidas] Casanova [de filosofia na USP, onde Vlado estudou]. I worked at the BBC in London and returned to Brazil in 1968, with the newly decreed AI-5.
How he became director of journalism at TV Cultura, a broadcaster linked to the Government of São Paulo [comandado por Paulo Egydio Martins, da Arena, partido da ditadura]even though he is a PCB activist?
First of all, it is important to say that I approached the PCB not out of blind adherence to Marxism-Leninism, but as a way of not feeling politically isolated. As for TV Cultura, I was invited to take over as journalism director in September 1975, at a time when it was believed that the country was on the eve of political opening. I presented a project to change the station’s programming line, making it socially useful and of public interest. I believe that the government saw in me the possibility of modernizing the broadcaster’s journalism.
Why were you called to testify at DOI-Codi? Do you think it was more because of your journalistic work or more because you were a PCB activist?
I believe it was a combination of both factors. My work at TV Cultura, seeking more critical and socially engaged journalism, bothered some sectors of the government. The pressure and accusations against TV Cultura, such as those from columnist Cláudio Marques [jornalista anticomunista que tinha uma coluna no jornal “Shopping News” e denunciava e caluniava opositores da ditadura]already indicated this. At the same time, my connection with the PCB was also known, which made me an even bigger target. I believe they used my activism as a pretext to attack me, trying to silence my work in journalism.
