If you've watched American Murder: Gabby Petito, the new Netflix docuseries about the 22-year-old murdered in 2021 by fiance Brian Laundrie that debuted on Monday, you may have thought Petito's voice sounded a little ... different. Vulture now confirms: "Yes, that was an AI re-creation of Gabby Petito's voice." The outlet notes that, about 20 minutes into the series' first episode, a disclaimer pops up noting that "journal entries and text messages are brought to life in this series in her own voice, using voice recreation technology."
American Murder filmmakers Julia Willoughby Nason and Michael Gasparro say they got the thumbs' up from Petito's family to use AI for her voice, because they felt it was important to bring those texts and journals "to life." "At the end of the day, we wanted to tell the story as much through Gabby as possible. It's her story," Gasparro tells Us Weekly, adding they "reached out to the family to get their blessing," then "worked diligently" to make sure everything was presented as accurately as possible.
Gasparro notes they did "unpack a little bit about [Laundrie]," too. "[Petito] was somebody that had a very different relationship with Brian than others did. So we did try to humanize him," he says. "But with murder cases, it's usually the killer who gets all the attention. ... It was important for us to actually tell a story about the person that was murdered."
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Viewers are conflicted about the AI usage: Although some appreciate the filmmakers' efforts, others call it "creepy" and "disrespectful," per the Independent. Petito's mother and stepfather tell the outlet they did indeed give the OK to use artificial intelligence to re-create their daughter's voice, but that it was difficult to take in the more mechanical-sounding version when they finally viewed the program. "I think it's weird, and because we know her actual voice, [it] is a little off," says Nichole Schmidt, Gabby's mother. "It's just hard to hear." (More Gabby Petito stories.)
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