AI avatars - new methods against censorship and for journalistic storytelling?

Former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta interviewed an AI-generated avatar of Joaquin Oliver on August 4, 2025. Oliver was a victim of the 2018 Parkland school shooting who would have turned 25 on the day the interview aired on Acosta's Substack channel.

"I really felt like I was speaking with Joaquin. It's just a beautiful thing," Acosta said.

Joaquin Oliver's parents had the digital avatar of their deceased son developed.

"I'm back today because my parents used AI to re-create my voice to call you. How many calls will it take for you to care? How many dead voices will you hear before you finally listen?" Joaquin's AI avatar explains.

The avatar delivers compelling messages about the need for more respectful discussions, greater compassion, and stricter gun laws.

The interview has now sparked intense debates about the ethical boundaries of AI in grief processes and socio-political campaigns.

Interestingly, the data-driven news magazine "Ground News" breaks down coverage by "right-wing" and "left-wing" media in the US according to ideological beliefs regarding gun legislation.

The question remains: what does an AI avatar need for people to trust its content?

If this succeeds, AI avatars of deceased witnesses could enrich journalistic storytelling:

1. Preserving witness testimony – Holocaust survivors or East German witnesses tell their stories for future generations, their voices remain audible.

2. Solving cold cases – Reconstructing and making audible the voices of victims or investigative sources in unsolved cases to obtain new leads.

3. Diversifying socio-politics – Victims of femicide, racism, or environmental disasters participate in current political debates through their digital voices.

4. Explaining science – Albert Einstein explains modern quantum physics, Hannah Arendt analyzes current political crises.

5. Bringing family stories to life – Grandparents tell of flight, reunification, or the guest worker era, illustrating broader social developments.

Thus, AI avatars can expand the boundaries of contemporary history and make silenced witnesses, destroyed documents, and abstract data information tangible.