Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta interviewed an AI recreation of Joaquin Oliver on Monday about gun violence and gun control. Joaquin was a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, when a gunman killed 17 people there on February 14, 2018. Joaquin was one of those who lost his life. Monday would have been Joaquin’s 25th birthday.
The video of the interview, which is still available on Acosta’s YouTube channel (though comments have been paused), is disturbing, to say the very least. There is nothing natural about an “interview” with a person who is deceased, even if computer technology can somewhat crudely animate a photo. Joaquin is not here to share his story or use his voice in the way he would want. He’s not here to give his own opinions on gun violence. Joaquin should be here, now halfway through his 20s, but a young perpetrator bent on destruction took his life and the lives of several others.
The Acosta interview prompted quite a backlash from those on both sides of the gun control and gun rights debates. On the face of it, this might seem surprising. But it really is not. Joaquin is not here. And the visuals, voice, and even words of the AI reanimation create a sense of unease. Watching any portion of it makes one deeply uncomfortable. We’re witnessing what shouldn’t exist in the first place. More than anything, the real problem with the AI of Joaquin Oliver has to do with using the likeness of a dead person as a tool for political gain. Joaquin should be remembered for who he was and the light and love he brought to friends and family. Instead, we’re left with an unnatural, robotic, fake version of him. And for what purpose? All for political posturing. But Jim Acosta does not care.
According to Acosta, the entire interview was justified because “his father approached me to do the story … to keep the memory of his son alive.” Acosta, already known for allowing political biases to overwhelm any modicum of common sense he may have, went ahead with it. And in this instance, I don’t believe Joaquin Oliver’s parents should be blamed. According to Manuel Oliver, Joaquin’s father, they “created the AI version of Joaquin … just to hear their son’s voice again. ‘Patricia will spend hours asking questions. Like any other mother, she loves to hear Joaquin saying, ‘I love you, mommy.’ And that’s important.’” I don’t fault Manuel and Patricia for grieving and coping with the violent loss of their son. I can’t imagine losing a child in this way. The AI of their son may help them heal and move on. But the AI recreation is something that should stay private within the family structure. It is nothing the general public needs to see. And it especially should not be used for the worst of all motivations: gaining some sort of moral high ground in an ongoing political and cultural fight.
In his interview with Manuel Oliver, Acosta declared, “I really felt like I was speaking with Joaquin. It’s just a beautiful thing.” This is reprehensible behavior that is knowingly and completely detached from reality. The “interview” wasn’t even close to speaking with Joaquin, whose life ended on February 14, 2018. Acosta happily played into it not out of respect for Joaquin or care for his family. Instead, he made these statements and a show of emotional support for his own publicity and advancement.
It’s clear what Jim Acosta’s goal was with this interview of a dead kid. He took what is clearly a sympathetic figure, a murder victim, and placed his likeness center stage in an attempt to show that anyone who is against gun control doesn’t care that Joaquin died. Furthermore, there’s the idea that if anyone is bothered by the AI reanimation, then they’re the problem in the situation. Acosta said as much: “I think Joaquin‘s father makes a good point that if you’re bothered more by this than the gun violence that took his son, then there is something truly wrong with our society.”
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Not a single person who has recoiled at the virtual reanimation of a dead boy likes that he or anyone was taken by gun violence. Acosta is using the grief of the Oliver family as a cover for his own poor journalistic decisions. The fact that people on both the Left and Right are disgusted by the interview says so much.
The murders that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 were an act of evil. We can and should have discussions about gun violence and mental health that don’t use AI recreations of victims in order to push an agenda.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a contributing freelance columnist at the Freemen News-Letter. She is a mother of two and lives in the southern United States.