AI is being used to resurrect the voices of dead pilots - TechCrunch
AI was used to reconstruct the voices of deceased pilots from a UPS plane crash, leading the NTSB to temporarily restrict access to its docket system.
- Incident date
- May 2026
- Target
- Pilots of UPS Flight 2976
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) temporarily restricted access to its docket system after AI was used to recreate the voices of pilots killed in a UPS plane crash. This incident highlights the potential for misuse of publicly available data and AI technologies.
What happened
The accident docket for UPS Flight 2976 included a spectrogram file of the voice recorder. Although federal law prohibits the NTSB from including cockpit audio in its docket system, a spectrogram—an image created by converting sound signals—was included. A YouTuber pointed out that audio could be reconstructed from the spectrogram's data. Individuals then used the spectrogram and publicly available transcripts to create approximations of the cockpit voice recorder audio, employing AI tools in the process. Following this incident, the agency restored public access to the docket system but kept some investigations closed pending review, including the one related to Flight 2976.