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NTSB Removes Accident Reports After AI Voice Recreations Appear Online
The National Transportation Safety Board took its docket system offline after users converted spectrogram images from a UPS crash report into audio of the pilots' final moments. The agency cited federal restrictions on cockpit voice recordings and said it is reviewing the issue.
May 23, 10:59 AM·1m read1 source
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The National Transportation Safety Board removed its public docket system after individuals used details from a crash report to generate audio recreations of cockpit conversations. The agency had posted files related to the November 4, 2025 crash of UPS flight 2976.
The files included a transcript and a spectrogram image of the cockpit voice recorder. Users applied artificial intelligence tools to convert the spectrogram into an approximation of the pilots' voices during the final 30 seconds of the flight. The plane lost an engine during takeoff from Louisville, Kentucky.
Three crew members and 12 people on the ground died.
Federal law prohibits the NTSB from releasing actual cockpit audio recordings. The board stated that the law exists because of the sensitive nature of cockpit communications. In its announcement, the NTSB said it is aware that image recognition and computational methods can reconstruct audio from spectrograms released in investigations.
The board added that the docket system is temporarily unavailable while it examines the scope of the issue and evaluates solutions.
Technology capable of converting spectrograms into audio has existed for years. Recent AI tools have reduced the time and expertise required. One user reported completing a reconstruction in about 10 minutes using OpenAI's Codex. The NTSB has not stated whether it will change its practice of releasing graphic representations of audio data.
