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AI Recreates Voices of Deceased Pilots
23 May
Summary
- AI recreated voices of pilots killed in a crash.
- NTSB temporarily removed access to its docket system.
- Spectrogram data was used to generate audio approximations.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently took the unusual step of temporarily disabling public access to its docket system. This measure was enacted after the agency discovered that the voices of pilots, who tragically lost their lives in a UPS plane crash last year, had been recreated using artificial intelligence. These AI-generated voice recordings subsequently began circulating online.
Federal law prohibits the inclusion of cockpit audio recordings within the NTSB's docket system. However, the accident docket for this particular flight did contain a spectrogram file of the voice recorder. A spectrogram converts sound signals into a visual image. It was through this image, combined with the publicly accessible transcript, that individuals were able to reconstruct approximations of the cockpit voice recorder audio.
The NTSB has since restored public access to the majority of its docket system. However, 42 investigations, including the one pertaining to the UPS flight, remain restricted pending further review of these new security concerns.
