NetflixAnother day, another AI controversy, this time related to the latest chapter of American Murder, the new Netflix documentary on Gabby Petito, who was murdered by her fiancé Brian Laundrie during their vanlife trip across the US.
The reaction to the use of artificial intelligence in TV and movies has been mixed, but in general, it doesn’t go down too well.
The Brutalist, Late Night With the Devil, Megalopolis, and True Detective have all faced backlash for using AI in some form, whether that be in the content itself or for marketing material.
However, a worrying new trend has emerged: the use of AI in true crime content. Netflix has a number of titles that make use of this technology, including What Jennifer Did, Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam, and now, American Murder: Gabby Petito.
American Murder: Gabby Petito faces backlash for AI use
NetflixThe new documentary series uses AI to recreate Gabby’s voice, allowing her to read her own diary entries and text messages from beyond the grave. Just like the previous examples, the move has been slammed online.
In American Murder: Gabby Petito Episode 1, text across the screen reads, “Gabby Petito’s journal entries and text messages are brought to life in this series in her own voice, using voice recreation technology.”
It then launches into a diary entry, which is read out as if Gabby is narrating it.
Taking to X/Twitter, one viewer wrote, “I’m watching American Murder: Gabby Petito and HOLY SH*T. They’ve used AI voice recreation to have Gabby Petito reading journal entries and text messages from the last months of her life.
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“I’m assuming they got permission from the family, but this is a deeply unsettling use of AI.”
Another said, “Watching the Gabby Petito doc, absolutely invested… until the part it started using AI to make HER read out her texts and journal entries. That is absolutely NOT okay. She’s a murder victim. You are violating her again.”
“Watching Netflix’s new Gabby Petito doc and feel extremely uncomfortable by the usage of AI to recreate her voice,” added a third. “She couldn’t have consented to that and I don’t care if her parents consented for her. That is just so weird.”
Over on Reddit, a similar conversation is unfolding. “The AI voiceover was weird and made me uncomfortable,” said one.
A second agreed, “I think it’s wrong to use AI tbh. Like she can’t give consent to having it used or anything and, especially because she’s a victim of a crime, I can’t help but feel like it’s exploitative.
“I get the counter argument but I don’t think it adds much and I don’t need to hear her diary entry in a fake voice.
“It can’t predict what her intonation would have been and it’s just gross to use it imo… at the very least I hope they got consent from her family. I just don’t like the precedent it sets for future documentaries either.”
Filmmakers explain decision to use AI
Julia Willoughby Nason and Michael Gasparro, directors of American Murder: Gabby Petito, explained that they used AI to try and give Gabby a voice in the Netflix documentary.
In a conversation with US Weekly, Gasparro said, “We had so much material from her parents that we were able to get. All of her journals since she was young and there was so much of her writing.
“She documented her trips and most of her life from a young age. We thought it was really important to bring that to life. At the end of the day, we wanted to tell the story as much through Gabby as possible. It’s her story.”
Gasparro confirmed that they got permission from Gabby’s family, stating, “We reached out to the family to get their blessing and then we worked diligently to represent it in exactly how it was written. That allowed you to hear it through her own words.”
NetflixNason and Gasparro, who have worked on a number of high-profile true crime titles such as Murdaugh Murders and Shiny Happy People, went on to say that they try to put the victims’ voices front and center.
“In all of our docs, we try to go for the source and the people closest to either the victims who are not alive or the people themselves who have experienced this,” Nason said.
“That’s really where we start in terms of sifting through all the data and information that comes with these huge stories.”
American Murder: Gabby Petito is streaming on Netflix now. You can also read about if Brian Laundrie’s parents could ever face prison.