Jim Acosta, the former CNN chief White House correspondent, has faced a backlash after interviewing an artificially generated avatar of Joaquin Oliver, one of the 17 people killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The video, described by Acosta as a “one of a kind interview”, showed a computer-animated likeness of Oliver speaking about gun violence.
In the exchange, Acosta asked the avatar: “What happened to you?” The response, delivered in a hurried, monotonous tone, said: “I was taken from this world too soon due to gun violence while at school. It’s important to talk about these issues so we can create a safer future for everyone.” The avatar’s facial movements were jerky and unnatural, and critics were quick to question the ethics of using a simulated version of a dead teenager.
Acosta, who now describes himself as an independent journalist on Substack, said Oliver’s parents had created the AI version of their son and that his father, Manuel Oliver, invited him to be the first reporter to interview it. Acosta told Manuel Oliver that he “really felt like I was speaking with Joaquin”. The father acknowledged the AI could not bring his son back, but said it was a blessing to hear his voice again.
The interview was condemned on social media, with one user on Bluesky writing: “There are living survivors of school shootings you could interview, and it would really be their words and thoughts instead of completely made-up.” The stunt is not the first use of AI to recreate Parkland victims; last year, a robocalling campaign called The Shotline used AI-generated voices of six of those killed to urge Congress to act on gun reform.
Ethicists warn that such digital recreations risk enabling misinformation, deepfakes and fraud, blurring the line between reality and fabrication. Similar uses of AI have emerged elsewhere; in May, a court in Arizona heard an AI-generated victim impact statement from a man killed in a road rage incident, with the judge praising the message of forgiveness as genuine.
