A Chandler, Arizona courtroom recently witnessed the use of artificial intelligence to resurrect the voice of a deceased man, Christopher Pelkey, during the sentencing of his killer, Gabriel Horcasitas.
Pelkey, shot dead in a 2021 road rage incident, was digitally recreated using AI to deliver a scripted “impact statement” written by his sister, Stacey Wales.
Horcasitas, 50, was sentenced to 10.5 years for manslaughter after shooting Pelkey, 37, when the latter approached his car in a heated confrontation.
“To Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me: it is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances,” according to the AI-generated video, featuring a digitally aged photograph of Pelkey.
“In another life, we probably could have been friends. I believe in forgiveness and God, who forgives. I always have, and still do,” the video said, which moved the judge, who openly praised the AI technology, to hand down a sentence a full year longer than prosecutors requested.
Hellbound and Down 