‘Amazing!’ CNN Anchor Stunned By AI Video Of Murder Victim Forgiving His Murderer From Beyond The Grave

CNN anchors John Berman and Kate Bolduan were amazed by the Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated likeness of the late Christopher Pelkey, who was killed in 2021 but forgave the man convicted of killing him via an AI video played in court.

The nearly four-minute video was played at the sentencing of Gabriel Horcasitas, who was convicted of manslaughter in the killing that took place as the result of a road rage incident.

“Time it’s ever happened to Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me. It is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances, in another life, we probably could have been friends. I believe in forgiveness and in God who forgives. I always have and I still do,” Pelkey’s AI said.

On Friday’s edition of CNN News Central, Berman interviewed Stacey Wales, Pilkey’s older sister and the impetus behind the video’s creation.

An emotional Wales told Berman and Bolduan how and why she took the unprecedented step:

BERMAN: With us now is Christopher’s sister, who made this all happen, Stacey Wales. You know Stacy, thank you for being with us. And let me just start by saying, you know, we are sorry for your loss. I know it’s now been five years, but I’m sure it is still something that is painful. So why did you want to do this?STACEY WALES: I had been writing my victim&

#8217;s impact statement for two years. And when it came time, a week and a half out to be able to make that statement, I was struggling with actually putting down on paper what I’d been compiling nothing was coming out right, and it didn’t seem worthy of how to sum up Christopher’s life to the last person that was going to make a decision about the merit of it.So when I was thinking about what to say to the judge, I just didn’t feel that what I had to say was going to impact him. I know the courts like to hear things like forgiveness or remorse, but that was not something I was ready to give yet. I’m still working on that. And I just kept hearing Christopher’s voice in my head, not from an ethereal way, but just from a moral impact way.The imprint that he left was one of thanksgiving, thankfulness, forgiveness. And so I just wanted to think, well, what would he say in this moment. And there’s no way that I could echo that because it’s not how I felt. And then I thought to myself, well, why can’t I just write my opinion piece on what he would say? And I thought it would be more impactful if we brought it to life the AI.BERMAN: To give the chance, the judge,

a chance to really see and feel your brother in a way. So that’s the why you did it. Now, how? I mean, how did you do this?WALES: The goal was to humanize him, John. So you’re right there. My husband and our friend Scott Yancer are both involved in AI technologies, and they had done this for corporate projects for commissioned clients. And so I knew it was possible. He had shown me his work before, and I thought it was neat.So when I had this idea, I approached him and I said, Tim, I would like to do this for Chris. I’d like to have him make his own victim impact statement, and I want you to make it for me. And he says, Stacey, do you understand what you’re asking me to do? That’s my best friend. This is personal. I didn’t know those other people.BERMAN: What was it like for you then, for your husband, for, you know, your mutual friend to see your brother talking again?WALES: They worked on the technical component, they worked on the audio, and they worked on the visual. And my husband told me, he says, this does not work, and I will not show it if it does not embody the spirit of Chris and his morals and his ethos. And he says, I won’t let AI touch any kind of a

script for that. I said, you don’t have to. I’ve been trying to write mine for two years, but I wrote his, or what I thought he would say in five minutes.And so when he put it all together and he showed it to me, it just — it warmed my heart, and I knew it was going to be effective because this is how Chris believed. He was a very black and white kind of person. You knew where he stood on every issue.BERMAN: And what was the reaction from the judge?WALES: What some people think is that this AI presentation was in a vacuum and offered to the judge as its sole piece. What isn’t talked about is that 49 letters impact statements for Chris alone from his friends, family, all the way from elementary school to the day he died in four different states and two different countries wrote in impacts about Chris on their life.And the judge read that in the two days, within two days in advance of sentencing. And so when went to sentencing that day, he had also additionally listened to almost three hours of in person testimony of 10 of us that assembled on the courtroom to let our voice be heard, which is allowed in Arizona law. And this was the capstone of all of that. So when the judge reacted and said that he thought this embodied theperson that he

had been learning about, it’s because this was the crown of an iceberg and a weight of what had come before, what he had heard.BERMAN: I know there are a lot of people looking at this thinking this may be the beginning of something in the legal sphere. But I know for you this is really about your brother and your feelings. So again, thank you for being with us. We are sorry for your loss and I’m sure that your brother would be proud of you. Stacey Wales we appreciate it. Kate.KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Remarkable person. It’s really amazing.

Watch above via CNN News Central.