CHANDLER, Ariz. — There were dozens of statements submitted to the court by family and friends of Christopher Pelkey when it came time to sentence the man convicted of fatally shooting him during a road rage incident. They provided glimpses of Pelkey’s humor, his character and his military service.
But there was nothing quite like hearing from the victim himself — even if it was a version generated by artificial intelligence.
In what’s believed to be a first in U.S. courts, Pelkey’s family used AI to create a video using his likeness to give him a voice. The AI rendering of Pelkey told the shooter during the sentencing hearing last week in Phoenix that it was a shame they had to meet that day in 2021 under those circumstances — and that in another life, the two of them probably could have been friends.
“I believe in forgiveness and in God who forgives. I always have and I still do,” Pelkey’s avatar told Gabriel Paul Horcasitas…