NTSB: UPS Cockpit Voice Recordings Fabricated With AI

Agency blocks public access to accident investigation files after finding unauthorized approximations of CVR.

Meg Godlewski

Friday, May 22, 2026 at 10:29 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

The NTSB says individuals have used AI to animate the crash transcripts. A UPS MD-11F [Credit: Shutterstock/Austin Deppe]

Key Takeaways:

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) discovered that artificial intelligence (AI) was used to reconstruct approximations of cockpit voice recorder (CVR) audio from sound spectrum imagery released in public dockets.
This AI reconstruction includes audio from ongoing investigations, such as the 2025 crash of UPS Flight 2976, directly violating federal law that prohibits the public release of CVR audio due to its highly sensitive nature.
In response, the NTSB temporarily took down its public docket system to examine the scope of the issue and evaluate solutions, reaffirming its commitment to these privacy restrictions.

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When the National Transportation Safety Board releases an accident investigation docket, it often contains a transcript of the conversations captured on the cockpit voice recorder (CVR)— but never the actual recording.

Yet on Thursday the NTSB announced it had become aware of someone using artificial intelligence (AI) to reconstruct approximations of CVR audio from sound spectrum imagery released as part of the agency’s investigations, including the ongoing probe of the 2025 crash of UPS Flight 2976 in Louisville, Kentucky.

The NTSB released a statement Thursday addressing the issue.

“The NTSB does not release cockpit audio recordings,” the statement read. “Federal law prohibits such public release due to the highly sensitive nature of verbal communications inside the cockpit. The NTSB takes these privacy restrictions seriously. The NTSB docket system is temporarily unavailable as we examine the scope of the issue and evaluate solutions. We hope to restore access to the docket system as soon as possible.”

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The agency spent the past two days in a hearing about the November 4 crash of the MD-11 that killed the flight crew of three and 12 more people on the ground. The hearing included a release of accident video that depicts the moment the left engine sheared off the wing upon takeoff, resulting in a fire.

The CVR transcript demonstrates the crew were trying to get the airplane to climb but could not. The aircraft crashed in an industrial area off the end of the runway.

During the hearing the agency heard testimony from several stakeholders, including Boeing, the manufacturer of the MD-11. It focused on the spherical bearing and lugs that hold the engine mounts on the wing. According to information contained in the accident docket, both Boeing and UPS were aware of cracks forming in the bearing and bearing migration as early as 2008 and 2011.

The NTSB’s final report on the probable cause of the crash is still several months away from being released.