Netflix has been criticised for the use of AI in the new documentary American Murder: Gabby Petito.
The true-crime series recounts Petito’s final days. She vanished during a US road trip in August 2021 and was found dead the following month. Her fiancé Brian Laundrie confessed to the murder in a notebook before dying from suicide.
At the start of the series, which premiered on February 17, a message informs viewers that AI technology has been used to help them tell Petito’s story.
‘Gabby Petito’s journal entries and text messages are brought to life in this series in her own voice, using voice recreation technology,’ it reads.
Michael Gasparro previously spoke about how he and fellow filmmaker Julia Willoughby Nason made the decision.
‘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,’ Gasparro told US Weekly.
‘At the end of the day, we wanted to tell the story as much through Gabby as possible. It’s her story.’
Before deciding to go ahead they contacted Petito’s family to get their permission: ‘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.’
However, some viewers have expressed discomfort at the editorial choice.
‘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,’ wrote Jodie on X.
Laura said that it was a ‘deeply unsettling use of AI’. ‘Watching the Gabby Petitio documentary on Netflix and the way they AI recreate her voice is insane????????’ added viewer Lil B***h.
Ash typed: ‘So in the Netflix documentary, they read Gabby Petito’s journal entries and texts using “voice recreation technology” from her own voice and I do not think that’s okay. It’s very weird – even disrespectful maybe – and truly off-putting.’
Remus weighed in: ‘She couldn’t have consented to that and I don’t care if her parents consented for her. That is just so weird.’
In addition to using travel vlogger Petito’s own journals, texts and footage, the three-part docuseries also features interviews with her loved ones.
‘Her parents were the source for us that was key to uncover really what was going on,’ Nason explained.
‘They had access to her personal archive of video and artwork. We were able to really bring her to life through her own perspective, which we were very lucky to have.’
The documentary also aims to show who Petito was before her tragic death.
‘I was just in awe of Gabby and how industrious she was around building this YouTube channel and this focus on her career. She was such a talented artist and designer. She really created that world from top to bottom,’ said Nason.
Metro contacted Netflix for comment.
American Murder: Gabby Petito is available to stream on Netflix.
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