AI Technology Brought to Life: Reviving the Voices of Deceased Pilots

In a recent update regarding the advancement of AI technology, the National Transportation Safety Board has temporarily halted access to its docket system. This decision follows the discovery that the voices of pilots who tragically lost their lives in a UPS plane crash last year were artificially recreated and circulated online.

Due to federal regulations, the NTSB is prohibited from including cockpit audio recordings in its docket system, which typically contains comprehensive data related to investigations and is usually accessible to the public. However, the accident docket for this particular flight included a spectrogram file generated from the voice recorder. A spectrogram converts sound signals—both low and high frequencies—into a visual format using mathematical methods.

Scott Manley, a prominent YouTuber known for his fusion of physics, astronomy, and gaming, highlighted on X that it might be possible to reconstruct audio from the extensive data encoded within the spectrogram.

This is precisely what occurred. Individuals utilized the spectrogram, in conjunction with a publicly available transcript, to recreate approximations of the cockpit voice recorder audio from UPS flight 2976 in Louisville, Kentucky, as reported by the NTSB. They used AI tools such as Codex, as discussed on social media platforms.

The agency restored public access to the docket system on Friday; however, 42 investigations, including the one related to Flight 2976, remain closed for further examination.