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A tale of murder, artificial intelligence, & forgiveness

An AI generated image of a murder victim, Chris Pelkey.
YouTube/Annotation by NPR
An AI generated image of a murder victim, Chris Pelkey.

Should AI give you a voice? Even when you've been murdered?

An AI avatar of a murder victim addressed his killer in court last week, and it may have been the first admittance of an AI-generated victim impact statement in a US court. Chris Pelkey, who was shot in a road rage incident in 2021, was recreated in a video made by his sister to offer forgiveness to his killer. This could mark the start of a new relationship between AI and the law, but will it change the relationship between us and the law? And what are the broader impacts we might see on our culture?

Brittany sits down with NPR digital news reporter Juliana Kim and Brandon Blankenship, assistant professor and director of the pre-law program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, to find out.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Brittany Luse
Brittany Luse is an award-winning journalist, on-air host, and cultural critic. She is the host of It's Been a Minute and For Colored Nerds. Previously Luse hosted The Nod and Sampler podcasts, and co-hosted and executive produced The Nod with Brittany and Eric, a daily streaming show. She's written for Vulture and Harper's Bazaar, among others, and edited for the podcasts Planet Money and Not Past It. Luse and her work have been profiled by publications like The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vulture, and Teen Vogue.
Juliana Kim
Juliana Kim is a weekend reporter for Digital News, where she adds context to the news of the day and brings her enterprise skills to NPR's signature journalism.
Liam McBain
Liam McBain (he/him) is an assistant producer on It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders. He's interested in stories at the margins of culture.
Neena Pathak