NTSB suspends public accident database access after AI voice cloning recreates dead pilots' cockpit audio

Summary

Internet sleuths used AI voice-cloning tools to reconstruct cockpit audio from a fatal cargo plane crash, recreating pilots' voices from the final seconds of the flight. This workaround exploits a loophole in federal law that prohibits the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) from publicly releasing cockpit voice recorder audio. In response, the NTSB has suspended all public access to its civil transportation accident database to prevent further dissemination of such reconstructed audio, raising questions about AI's impact on transparency, regulation, and accident investigation protocols.