7 comments

  • bhouston 30 minutes ago
    The whole thing is messed up.

    The video was created by the sister of the victim based on what she imagined he would say.

    The video asked for leniency. But the family of the victim formally asked for the maximum sentence. So there is a conflict here between the video made by the family and what the family asked for - I don't understand why the video was made at all.

    The maximum sentence to the accused was handed down, against the wishes of the AI video.

    So they are throwing out the maximum sentence based on the AI video asking for leniency?

    Regardless of this mess, AI videos of victims saying made up things should not be allowed at all.

    • philipp-gayret 25 minutes ago
      > So they are throwing out the maximum sentence based on the AI video asking for leniency?

      It says:

      > In sum, while the embedded “real” video footage of the victim was permissible, allowing the presentation of the AI video constituted fundamental error. And on this record, the judge’s consideration of the AI video so prejudiced Horcasitas as to render the sentencing procedure fundamentally unfair. Accordingly, we vacate the sentence for manslaughter and remand for resentencing.

      Which is more or less; "AI videos of victims saying made up things should not be allowed at all.".

      • baobabKoodaa 16 minutes ago
        Right. All of that makes sense, but you didn't address the directionality: the direction of the AI sentence was "make sentence more lenient", and (according to the person you are replying to) the sentence was the maximum sentence possible. So if we removed the influence of the AI video, the sentence can not increase from what is already the maximum.
        • horsawlarway 8 minutes ago
          You assume the intent of the video was to be listened to and accepted as actual input.

          My assumption is roughly the opposite - the intent of the video was to prejudice the jury as far as possible against the accused (he killed a person honorable enough and empathetic enough to suggest a more lenient sentence! To the pit with him!)

          It wasn't about the content of the video - it was about the emotional response to an AI generated facsimile of the victim.

        • thevillagechief 4 minutes ago
          Perhaps the prejudice is that the AI video is a means of manipulation making the victim appear more sympathetic. "This person must be an absolute monster to shoot such a good, kind forgiving guy." That was exceptionally poor judgement on the part of the judge. -Edit: Exactly what the comment above said.
        • klodolph 5 minutes ago
          from what I understand, there’s a high standard here, beyond “beyond reasonable doubt”, along the lines of “no appearance of impropriety”
    • neom 8 minutes ago
      https://youtu.be/cMs-_8etNts?t=83

      1:23 if you wanna watch it, it's uh... quite something.

      And the judges reaction to the AI video in court: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr9b1_rintk

    • dustfinger 2 minutes ago
      I suspect the sister did not anticipate the implications of the video. She might have initially created it for herself as a kind of therapy to help her cope, then thought it might help the families case if she showed it. I am just speculating though.
    • fsckboy 16 minutes ago
      >The video was created by the sister of the victim based on what she imagined he would say

      you don't know this, she could have been working based on advice from their attorney as to "how to get the maximum sentence"

      • apetresc 14 minutes ago
        The attorney thinks the best way to get the maximum sentence is to make an AI video of the victim asking for leniency in sentencing?

        What kind of 4D chess is this?

        • furyofantares 6 minutes ago
          Makes the victim more real (to the judge), I guess. And the family are victims too, the ones who continue to suffer, so I guess the 4D chess is demonstrating what the victims lost.

          It eventually makes sense to my brain, aside from the AI part of course. If I'm a remarkably forgiving person my family might both appreciate that about me, and not be remarkably forgiving themselves. And they might say look, we lost this remarkable human being, punish the responsible party harshly.

        • horsawlarway 4 minutes ago
          > The attorney thinks the best way to get the maximum sentence is to make an AI video of the victim asking for leniency in sentencing?

          Ab-so-fucking-lutely. This paints the victim in the most positive light. And makes killing them seem even worse.

          Again, attorneys understand that a lot of times you're looking for an emotional hook, not straight up "facts". This video made the victim seem moral, empathetic, full of forgiveness... as close to freaking jesus as you can get.

          And that other person killed them.

          Now go sentence that person.

          ---

          Instead imagine the video was of the victim smoking a cigar, laughing, and suggesting that he'd never forgive him and he should be put to death?

          ---

          Which video makes the jury more likely to actually come back with a tougher sentence? The one where he's a bastard, or the one where he's a saint?

        • qarl 8 minutes ago
          Yeah. The people in these comments aren't following the story.
  • triceratops 26 minutes ago
    I read the article but I'm more mystified than when I read the headline. To recap:

    A man is killed in a road-rage incident.

    The killer gets the maximum sentence for manslaughter (10.5 years).

    The appeals court says the judge was influenced by an AI-generated video of the victim and sends the case back for re-sentencing. Fine, ok.

    Where it gets weird: The video was made by the victim's sister. In the video, the victim says he believes in forgiveness. However, the family demanded the maximum sentence for the killer.

    This strikes me as strange. If they wanted the maximum sentence why did they submit a video about forgiveness? Did I miss something?

    • sim04ful 20 minutes ago
      Not so much perplexing if they considered the AI rendition an accurate representation. It's somewhat quite internally consistent in its own illogical way
      • baobabKoodaa 15 minutes ago
        You mean: the family members personally wanted the maximum sentence, but they wanted the (dead) victim to be able to express that the victim wants leniency?
        • justonceokay 1 minute ago
          It doesn’t confuse me at all. But maybe that’s just because I come from a family where people disagree and try to undermine each other as sport
        • justonceokay 1 minute ago
          It doesn’t confuse me at all. But maybe that’s just because I come from a family where people disagree as sport
        • ab2525 10 minutes ago
          Yes exactly that - I parsed it as such.
  • ihumanable 4 minutes ago
    > He added that he felt the video was “genuine, that his obvious forgiveness of Mr. Horcasitas reflects the character I heard about [Pelkey] today.”

    It's an artificial video that is *literally and verifiably* not genuine.

  • shevy-java 1 minute ago
    AI makes even judges dumber.
  • wavemode 27 minutes ago
    Wait let me get this straight. A man is killed in a road rage shooting. His family shows up to sentencing with an AI video of the victim asking for leniency for the shooter. The judge says he loved the video, then gives out the max sentence anyway. Then a court of a appeals vacates the sentence on the grounds that the judge was biased by the video. Huh? Every single one these statements seems extremely illogical.
  • ChrisArchitect 12 minutes ago
  • iAMkenough 30 minutes ago
    Apparently that judge is an enemy of the White House because he called it “AI” instead of “SI”
    • SpicyLemonZest 14 minutes ago
      I fear you may not understand that engaging in political meta-commentary when you see someone say "AI" helps Trump politicize the term, even if you do so from an anti-Trump perspective. As a veteran of multiple language change wars, all of which I found incredibly obnoxious, the only times I've had to abandon useful old terminology is when some political movement successfully adopted that terminology as a badge.
    • bhouston 29 minutes ago
      How do Trump even keep track of the enemy list at this point? It may be easier to just white list individuals who are not enemies? Much shorter list.
      • superxpro12 27 minutes ago
        Precisely. and that list is "white republicans"
        • MajorTakeaway 19 minutes ago
          "White" Democrat here, I believe making a list based on skin color is inherently racist.
          • Shalomboy 15 minutes ago
            That's good! However, there are bigger fish to fry here than tsk-tsking HN's commentariat. ICE is making allllllll sorts of lists based on skin color.