Netflix's 'American Murder: Gabby Petito' faces backlash over AI-generated voice-over

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WBBH) — The new Netflix documentary, "American Murder: Gabby Petito," has sparked backlash after using an artificial intelligence-generated voice-over for Petito's narration. Gabby Petito's disappearance and death made national headlines in September 2021, with law enforcement launching a nationwide search for the 22-year-old. Petito went missing while she had been documenting a cross-country road trip with her fiance, Brian Laundrie. The three-part series features interviews with Petito's loved ones, photographs, video footage, maps and writing excerpts. The first episode shares a disclaimer that Petito's journal entries and text messages were "brought to life in this series in her own voice, using voice recreation technology." NBC reported that directors and executive producers Julia Willoughby Nason and Michael Gasparro told Us Weekly that Petito's family gave their "blessing" to recreate her voice in the documentary.

'It's her story'

A TikTok video describing the decision as a "step too far" has since garnered nearly 500,000 views. In his statement to Us Weekly, Gasparro explained that the filmmakers had access to a wealth of material provided by Petito's parents. "We had all of her journals from a young age, and there was so much of her writing. She documented her trips and most of her life," Gasparro said. "We thought it was really important to bring that to life. At the end of the day, we wanted to tell the story as much through Gabby as possible. It's her story."

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