US scrambles to stop Internet users re-creating dead pilots’ voices
The NTSB has temporarily shut down public access to its accident database following the re-creation of dead pilots' voices from a fatal cargo plane crash by Internet users. This action was prompted by federal law prohibiting the public release of cockpit audio, which was circumvented using publicly available spectrograms and AI tools.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has temporarily suspended public access to its online database of civil transportation accidents. This decision comes after internet users successfully re-created the voices of deceased pilots from a fatal cargo plane crash, utilizing software and AI tools with publicly released sound spectrum imagery.
Federal law, enacted in 1990, prohibits the NTSB from publicly sharing cockpit voice or video recordings to protect the privacy of air crews. The agency typically shares factual reports and evidence from investigations, but the recent re-creations directly challenged this legal limitation.
The re-creations stemmed from a PDF containing a spectrogram—a visual representation of sound signals—released by the NTSB during an investigative hearing for the UPS flight 2976 crash. This spectrogram, showing the last 30 seconds of cockpit audio, allowed individuals to reconstruct audio versions of the pilots’ voices, some within minutes using AI models like OpenAI’s Codex.
While the NTSB does not release cockpit audio, investigators recognized that advances in image recognition and computational methods enabled these reconstructions. The agency is now examining the scope of the issue and evaluating solutions to prevent similar incidents in the future. Former NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt described the stringent precautions the agency takes to secure cockpit voice recorders and restrict access during investigations.
Related articles
When the Trump administration cracks down on Anthropic, who benefits?
The Trump administration issued an export control order against Anthropic, forcing the AI company to pull its newest models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, offline. This move has sparked debate over AI policy and digital sovereignty, with some suggesting political motivations and others questioning Anthropic’s own messaging around AI safety.
Signal’s Meredith Whittaker wants you to remember that AI chatbots ‘are not your friends’
Signal President Meredith Whittaker cautions against the over-reliance on AI chatbots, emphasizing they are not sentient and can pose significant privacy risks. She highlights concerns about pervasive data access when integrating AI into personal and sensitive applications.
Ethics & SocietyCritical Copilot vulnerability allowed hackers to seal 2FA code from users
Microsoft patched a critical vulnerability in its M365 Copilot AI platform that allowed attackers to extract sensitive data, including 2FA codes, from users. This vulnerability, dubbed "SearchLeak," exploited Copilot's inability to distinguish between user instructions and malicious commands embedded in third-party content.