• Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    WTF?

    That man did not say anything. A computer algorithm smashed a video together they incidentally uses his likeness, nothing more

  • orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
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    1 day ago

    There is absolutely zero chance I would allow anyone to theorize what they think I would say using AI. Hell, I don’t like AI in its current state, and that’s the least of my issues with this.

    It’s immoral. Regardless of your relation to a person, you shouldn’t be acting like you know what they would say, let alone using that to sway a decision in a courtroom. Unless he specifically wrote something down and it was then recited using the AI, this is absolutely wrong.

    It’s selfish. They used his likeness to make an apology they had no possible way of knowing, and they did it to make themselves feel better. They couldve wrote a letter with their own voices instead of turning this into some weird dystopian spectacle.

    “It’s just an impact statement.”

    Welcome to the slippery slope, folks. We allow use of AI into courtrooms, and not even for something cool (like quickly producing a 3d animation of a car accident for use in explaining—with actual human voices—what happened at the scene). Instead, we use it to sway a judge’s sentencing, while also making an apology on behalf of a dead person (using whatever tech you want because that is not the main problem here) without their consent or even any of their written (you know, like in a will) thoughts.

    Pointing to “AI bad” for these arguments is lazy, reductive, and not even remotely the main gripe.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      allow use of AI into courtrooms

      Surprised the judge didn’t kick that shit to the curb. There was one case where the defendant made an AI avatar, with AI generated text, to represent himself and the judge said, “Fuck outta here with that nonsense.”

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      20 hours ago

      There is absolutely zero chance I would allow anyone to theorize what they think I would say using AI.

      If they based it on my Reddit history it’s got potential to be needlessly harsh to certain groups of life-underachievers, that’s for sure.

  • Dem Bosain@midwest.social
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    2 days ago

    Why would a judge allow this? It’s like showing the jury a made-for-TV movie based on the trial they’re hearing.

    • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Not only did he allow it,

      While the state asked for a nine-and-a-half year sentence, the judge handed Horcasitas a 10-and-a-half year sentence after being so moved by the video, Pelkey’s family said, noting the judge even referred to the video in his statement.

      It has about as much evidentiary value as a ouija board, but since the victim was a veteran and involved with a church and the judge likes those things we can ignore pesky little things like standards of proof and prejudice

      • xorollo@leminal.space
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        2 days ago

        Arizona State professor of law Gary Marchant said the use of AI has become more common in courts.

        “If you look at the facts of this case, I would say that the value of it overweighed the prejudicial effect, but if you look at other cases, you could imagine where they would be very prejudicial,” he told AZFamily.

        Could you imagine how prejudicial such a thing might be? Not here, of course. /S

      • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        So the original comment is just dumb because they couldn’t be bothered to read the article, but upvotes it gets.

  • illi@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    Ok, so his family believed he would forgive, wrote statement for him and made AI make it look like the victim said it. And this is somehow relevant to the court? It’s all nice the family thinks this but what has it got with justice?

  • besselj@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    I’d rather have somebody puppet my corpse like in Weekend at Bernie’s. Basically the same thing but more authentic

  • butwhyishischinabook@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I swear to Christ, if I get murdered and my family makes an AI video of me forgiving them then I will haunt the shit out of them.

  • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    Unless stated otherwise, please do not use my likeness for legal proceedings on the event of my untimely passing. Please.

  • LWD@lemm.eeOP
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    2 days ago

    An AI version of Christopher Pelkey appeared in an eerily realistic video to forgive his killer… “In another life, we probably could’ve been friends. I believe in forgiveness, and a God who forgives.”

    The message was well-received by Judge Todd Lang, who told the courtroom, “I love that AI."

    While the state asked for a nine-and-a-half year sentence, the judge handed Horcasitas a 10-and-a-half year sentence after being so moved by the video.

    • HEXN3T@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 days ago

      Society is on the verge of total collapse

      EDIT: I am reading this over multiple times, and I think the judge is being sarcastic

    • yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 days ago

      How does that even make sense?

      Wouldn’t you lower the sentence if the victim AI says it forgives the killer? Because - you know - it significantly reduces the “revenge” angle the American justice system is based on?

  • solrize@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    This is awesome. Next we can have AI Jesus endorsing Trump, AI Nicole Simpson telling us who the real killer was, and AI Abraham Lincoln saying that whole Civil War thing was a big misunderstanding and the Confederacy was actually just fine. The possibilities are endless. I can hardly wait!

  • JTskulk@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Why even do an impact statement? All Christian victims should be assumed to forgive their attackers, right?

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    While the state asked for a nine-and-a-half year sentence, the judge handed Horcasitas a 10-and-a-half year sentence after being so moved by the video, Pelkey’s family said, noting the judge even referred to the video in his statement

    So first of all I guess all that stuff in the video about forgiveness wasn’t really a factor. I’m just fascinated who called for this? Like was it the prosecution? In what context? Was this part of their closing arguments? Did the defense not object? So many questions.

    You have to wonder if this is not grounds for an appeal.

    • LWD@lemm.eeOP
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      2 days ago

      The judge was so moved by a call for forgiveness that he increased the recommended sentence… Or if that’s not the case, that’s some poor writing in the article

    • mkwt@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Legally speaking, this was a victim impact statement.

      Convicted criminals have long had the common law right of allocution, where they can say anything they want directly to the judge before sentence is passed.

      Starting a few decades ago, several states decided that the victims of crime should have a similar right to address the judge before sentencing. And so the victim impact statement was created.

      It’s not evidence, and it’s not under oath, but it is allowed to influence the sentencing decision.

      (Of course, victim impact statements are normally given by real victims).

      • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.com
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        2 days ago

        Was written and created by the family… they are victims. they just wrote it in the context of the deceased.

        • mkwt@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Do you mean that the script was written by the family, and it was only “performed” by generative AI? That’s very interesting, and not something I heard anywhere else.

          • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.com
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            2 days ago

            The 37-year-old Army combat veteran’s family created the AI statement using a previously recorded video, a picture and a script written by the victim’s sister, Stacey Wales.

            “I said, ‘I have to let him speak,’ and I wrote what he would have said, and I said, ‘That’s pretty good, I’d like to hear that if I was the judge,’” Wales told AZFamily.

            From the article. Where Wales is his sister.

            Wales herself is not ready to forgive Horcasitas, but when she wrote the script, she says she knew her brother would speak of forgiveness. “He stood for people, and for God, and for love,” she says.

            From a related article. https://www.azfamily.com/2025/05/06/chandler-road-rage-shooting-victim-speaks-using-artificial-intelligence/

            The outrage in the comments about this is stupid. It’s clear that this is an impact statement from the family… the “AI” used here was to just generate the image of him reading the impact statement that his sister wrote.

            • Smee@poeng.link
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              1 day ago

              I love AI more than anything in the world!

              • Saik0

              I too enjoy putting words into mouths of other people and call it a method of getting my own argument across.

              • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.com
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                24 hours ago

                Waaah cry more!

                I added to the conversation by answering the question directly asked. Which someone who read the article would have known the answer for.

                I’m sorry that reading comprehension is hard for you.

                Acting like more than half of the comments on this post aren’t arguing in bad faith and thinking that the AI generated everything wholesale (content and script included) just shows how delusional you all are.

                Edit: The funny part is that mkwt, the person I replied to, updooted the post. meaning that they legitimately found that information useful since they went out of their way to updoot. So you, and the other 5 people who don’t understand how to read, can pound sand.

    • goldteeth@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      Honestly, if I’m the defense, this has gotta be awesome, right? Now, I’m not a lawyer, but I have watched Boston Legal twice, so that’s basically the same thing, and what I’m hearing is these people want to get up on the stand and show the jury a video which either:

      A) to the particularly inattentive, shows the victim clearly alive, or

      B) demonstrates that even video evidence can be completely fabricated from whole cloth, and the opposition is more than capable of doing so to serve their own interests

      Barring the staggeringly unlikely event that the defendant goes full-on Perry Mason Perp and outright says “hey, sorry I killed you, man” to the hologram, this seems like a pretty sweet deal.

      • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.com
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        21 hours ago

        B) demonstrates that even video evidence can be completely fabricated from whole cloth, and the opposition is more than capable of doing so to serve their own interests

        It’s a victim impact statement. It’s not evidence. Victim Impact Statements are provided/read/whatever AFTER the finding of guilt, but before sentencing.