An adorable video recently went viral on Twitter, featuring a speech from a best man who had unfortunately passed away before his friend’s big day and couldn’t give a speech in person. Fortunately, the caption explains, “Before passing away to illness, his best friend recorded his best man speech to be a part of their big day .”


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Unfortunately, the post fails to mention that the speech was created using an A.I.-generated version of his voice.



The speech is sweet, written to rhyme, and the groom is visibly moved, his mom walking over to comfort him as he listens and his new wife holding his hand as tears pool in his eyes. Twitter users were similarly moved, with a number of them sharing that it inspired them to call their best friends, and many more sharing that the video made them tear up alongside the groom.



A visit to the wedding videographer’s TikTok page reveals something the tweet didn’t, however — that the speech was created “with a little help from A.I.” Or as the caption reads, “In an incredibly touching moment, a best man who passed away too soon still got to share his words at his best friend’s wedding, thanks to a little help from A.I. After losing him to illness, his mom made sure he could still be part of the big day. Check out this special speech and see how technology helped keep the memory alive in the most beautiful way.”


In response to a commenter asking for them to explain the process, he wrote, “The only thing I know is that they were able to get his voice I would assume through voice messages. They then paid someone who used A.I. to create this speech. Unsure what it was but such a special gift.”


In a follow-up comment, he revealed that the best man didn’t write the speech himself, adding, “Sadly he passed away suddenly. But with a bit of help from [sic] the family was able to create a speech on behalf of the best man.”


The best man’s tragic and sudden passing would have been devastating for everyone who loved him, and it’s sweet that the couple obviously loved this gift, even if neither the content of the speech nor the speech itself were actually crafted by the best man but rather by his relatives and A.I. A few commenters did wonder, however: “Does no one else think this is a bit scary that this is A.I.?”


To that end, sweet or not, you can’t help but think it’s all at least a little dystopian. I mean, what if we could make dead people say anything we wanted, regardless of what the dead person actually believed, or would have been willing to say in real life? What if people could be manipulated by falsified recordings to vote a certain way, believe a certain thing or buy a certain product?


Much has been made about the risks of deepfake technology, but similar implications exist with this kind of technology, too — and the majority of them aren’t nearly as sweet as this best man’s speech.