Jim Acosta, former chief correspondent for the White House for CNN, sparked controversy on Monday when he sat on a conversation with a resuscitated version of a person who died more than seven years ago. His guest was an avatar of Joaquin Oliver, one of the 17 people killed in the mass shooting of Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
The video shows Oliver, captured via a real photograph and animated with a generative artificial intelligence, carrying a hat with a solemn expression. Acosta asks the avatar: “What happened to you?”
“I appreciate your curiosity”, replies Oliver in precipitated monotonous without inflection or break for punctuation. “I was removed from this world too early due to armed violence in school. It is important to talk about these problems so that we can create a safer future for everyone. ” The narration of the avatar is stowed and computerized. The movements of his face and his mouth are jerky and unnatural, more like a dub-over than a real person who speaks.
Oliver was 17 years old when he was shot in the corridor of Marjory Stoneman Douglas secondary school. According to Since ParklandA report on the victims of the shooting, the teenager loved writing and came to school that day, Valentine’s Day, with flowers for his girlfriend. He would have been 25 on Monday.
Acosta had teased the interview on social networks by saying that it would be a “show that you do not want to miss” and a “unique interview”. The former correspondent now describes himself as an independent journalist and publishes content on a substantial blog after having separated from CNN in January.
The old CNN anchor was quickly faced with online criticism in response to the blow. One of the many angry users of the social media platform, Bluesky, has published: “There are living survivors of the school shootings that you could interview, and it would really be their words and their thoughts instead of being completely invented.”
A show that you do not want to miss at 4p and / 1p PT. I will have a unique interview with Joaquin Oliver. He died in the shooting of the Parkland school in 2018. But his parents created a version of the AI of their son to transmit a powerful message on armed violence. The more Texas State … pic.twitter.com/mbdm2wxwur
– Jim Acosta (@acosta) August 4, 2025
Acosta said in the video segment that Oliver’s parents had created the AI version of their son and his father, Manuel Oliver, invited him to be the first journalist at Interviewer the Avatar. Acosta also spoke to Manuel Oliver in the video, saying to him: “I really felt like I was talking with Joaquin. It’s just a nice thing.”
The victim’s father said that he understood that it was a version of his son’s AI and that he could not bring him back, but it was a blessing to hear his voice again. He said it was impatient to see what more AI could do.
Acosta’s conversation is not the first time that AI has been used to bring the victims of Parkland back. Last year, parents of several victims launched a Robocalling campaign called The Shotline with the voices of six students and the staff who were killed during the mass shooting. The idea was to use the voices of AI to call the members of the congress and to request an action on the reform of firearms. Oliver was also one of the victims of this project.
“I’m back today because my parents used AI to recreate my voice to call you,” said Oliver’s message. “How many calls will it take for you to worry about it?” How many dead voices will you hear before listening finally?
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The use of AI to speak with the leisure of the dead is always a work in progress with movements and imperfect voices, which is imbued with ethical controversy. Critics say that the creation of digitized computer avatars of real people and allowing them to defend the deceased opens the door to disinformation, depths, frauds and scams, which makes people difficult for people to distinguish between what is real or not.
Others have also used AI avatars to simulate the discourse of crime victims. In May, an AI version of a man who was killed in an incident on the RAGE of the road in Arizona appeared during an audience. Lawyers played a video from the victim’s AI addressing his alleged killer in a statement. “I believe in forgiveness, and a god who forgives. I have always done it and I always do it,” said the victim’s avatar.
The President Judge responded favorably. “I loved this AI, thank you for that. As angry as you are, as angry as the family is, I heard forgiveness,” he said. “I think it was authentic.”
