The case of the death of influencer Gabby Petito, who was murdered by her fiancé during a trip across the U.S., has turned into a documentary series on Netflix.
Petito and Brian Laundrie had been together since 2019. In 2021, they set off together in a Ford Transit van for a trip across the country. However, things took a strange turn when Laundrie returned to his parents’ home in Florida without Petito.
Divided into three parts, American Murder: Gabby Petito shows how TikTok helped solve the case of her disappearance, with testimonies from the victim’s family, who was murdered by “manual strangulation” by her fiancé.
However, the streaming giant has faced heavy criticism for using artificial intelligence to make Petito’s voice read her own diary entries in the documentary.
The use of AI was referenced in the first episode of the series, with a disclaimer stating: “Gabby Petito’s diary entries and text messages come to life in this series in her own voice, using voice recreation technology.”
Despite this, internet users criticized the producers’ decision. “Personally, I hated it. […] If I die tragically, please, don’t recreate my voice to make a better documentary. Creepy,” said a Reddit user.
“Yes, it made me uncomfortable. […] Netflix was caught using AI in their true crime series before, so I’m not really surprised. It’s disgusting,” lamented another.
“I had to take a break because I was so shocked. How are we normalizing AI to the point where they are doing this?” analyzed a third user.
Amid the controversy, filmmakers Julia Willoughby Nason and Michael Gasparro spoke with US Weekly and explained why they chose to use AI.
First, Gasparro clarified that he asked for permission from Gabby’s family to recreate her voice with artificial intelligence for the series. “This allowed you to hear [her story] through her own words,” he explained.
Nason also commented on how “important” it was to bring the woman to life on screen, as they “wanted to tell the story as much as possible through Gabby.”
Photo and video: YouTube @nomadicstatik4941. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
