AI recreates dead pilots' voices from crash docs, NTSB shuts database
Internet sleuths used AI tools to reconstruct cockpit audio from a fatal cargo plane crash using sound spectrum imagery released by the NTSB. The reconstructed recordings spread online, prompting the NTSB to suspend public access to its online docket system on May 21. The agency stated it is reviewing what materials enabled the reconstructions, noting that federal law prohibits releasing actual cockpit voice recorder audio. The incident involves the crash of UPS flight 2976 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Key facts
- Internet users recreated pilots' voices from a fatal cargo plane crash using AI.
- The NTSB suspended public access to its online docket system on May 21.
- Reconstructed audio was based on sound spectrum imagery from NTSB investigations.
- Federal law prohibits the NTSB from releasing cockpit voice recorder audio.
- The crash involved UPS flight 2976 in Louisville, Kentucky.
- The NTSB is reviewing publicly available materials that enabled the reconstructions.
- The NTSB acknowledged advances in image recognition and computational methods.
- The online docket system was made 'temporarily unavailable'.
Entities
Institutions
- National Transportation Safety Board
- UPS
Locations
- Louisville
- Kentucky
- United States