Joe Rigney: When AI speaks for the dead

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 7th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. WORLD Opinions contributor Joe Rigney is sounding the alarm over what he calls “avatar advocacy”, using the likeness of the dead to push the politics of the living.

JOE RIGNEY: On September 14th, church goers at Plano’s Prestonwood Baptist Church received an unusual message—an exhortation from the late Charlie Kirk.

AI KIRK: First, I want you to know I'm fine…not because my body is fine, but because my soul is secure in Christ.

Other churches played the same video.

AI KIRK: Death is not the end, it's a promotion.

The message wasn’t from Charlie himself; it was an AI-generated response using a simulation of Charlie’s voice and cadence.

AI KIRK: Don't waste one second mourning me. I knew the risks of standing up in this cultural moment, and I do it all over again.

In the one-minute message, AI-Charlie exhorted the congregation to not let the violence divide the country, nor let it lead to fear or retaliation. Instead, he told them to double down on faith and family.

Attendees at Prestonwood responded with a standing ovation.

The clip is another phase in the growing controversy over the use of AI avatars of the deceased. It began as a way of bringing back crucial characters in movies like Star Wars and Fast and Furious after the actors died…but it’s quickly become something…much murkier.

Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta recently conducted an interview with an AI-generated avatar of Joaquin Oliver—the 17-year-old victim of the 2018 Parkland school shooting.

ACOSTA: Joaquin, I would like to know what your solution would be for gun violence.

AI OLIVER: Great question. I believe in a mix of stronger gun control laws, mental health support and community engagement…

The interview with AI-Joaquin was criticized from both left and right as “a grotesque puppet show.” The most recurring criticism was the use of a dead boy as an avatar for a particular political agenda. Joaquin’s parents, Manuel and Patricia, have publicly stated that they created the avatar in order to—in their words— “keep his voice alive” and “fight for a world without gun violence.”

This, of course, is not new, and grieving families across the political spectrum have used the image and memory of their deceased loved ones to advocate for policies they believe would have prevented their deaths.

But the use of Artificial Intelligence takes this practice to another level. The use of such AI characters as avatars for activism highlights the blurring of the lines between the real and the virtual that our technology represents. Acosta’s conversation with Manuel Oliver demonstrates the tension. On the one hand, Oliver insisted that he is in no way “trying to bring his son back.” At the same time, Acosta asserted this:

ACOSTA: And what's amazing about this Manny is that, you know, we've heard from the parents, we've heard from the politicians now we're hearing from one of the kids…

But we’re not. The image on the screen was not Joaquin, but AI-Joaquin, a simulacrum built by programmers who combined LLM’s with images, texts, and videos from Joaquin’s life. Joaquin was and is not present.

The same is true of AI-Charlie Kirk. One pastor may invite his congregation to— quote—“hear what Charlie is saying to us regarding what happened to him,” but we’re not. Charlie and Joaquin are both dead, their lives tragically ended by evil men, and no amount of technological necromancy can change that.

The Bible tells us that human beings are made in the image of God. The question is whether we are truly honoring that image when we construct an image of an image and get it to say the things we want it to say? In our desire to extend our lost loved ones, are we losing their humanity? More importantly, are we losing our own?

I’m Joe Rigney.

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