Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta shared an interview with an AI recreation of a school shooting victim on Monday.
Joaquin Oliver was killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Acosta had a machine-generated replica of Oliver appear for an interview on his Substack.
In practice, the faux Oliver was eerie. The responses to Acosta’s questions came from moving lips that frequently didn’t appear to line up with the rest of the AI-generated image’s face. When asked about the subject of gun control, the AI Oliver’s delivery became inflectionless.
“I believe in a mix of stronger gun laws, mental health support, and community engagement,” it said. “We need to create safe spaces for conversations and connections, making everyone feel seen and heard. It’s about building a culture of kindness and understanding.”
Oliver’s father, Manuel, told Acosta that they created the artificial version of their late son to hear his voice again and to advocate for gun safety. He argued that the AI, trained on writing from their son, was “very legit.”
“I understand that this is AI,” Manuel Oliver said. “I don’t want anyone to think that I am … trying to bring my son back. Sadly, I can’t, right? I wish I could. However, the technology is out there.”
Manuel Oliver said that the AI version of his son would continue to advocate for stronger gun control laws.
“Joaquin is going to start having followers,” he told Acosta. “He’s going to start uploading videos. This is just the beginning.”
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If the immediate response to Acosta’s interview is any indication, there might not be a strong market for AI recreations of late teenagers as advocates. A clip of the interview shared by Acosta on X quickly spread, with users calling it “ghoulish” and “evil.”
“This is so ghastly. There are many living, breathing survivors who have spoken and written so much,” wrote Gillian Branstetter, a communications strategist for the ACLU. “What am I supposed to be learning from this?”
