Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta has been slammed for interviewing an AI recreation of a Parkland High School shooting victim. Acosta — who was a liberal, anti-Trump voice at the network — has made a presence on Substack since being pushed out at CNN.

On his show Monday, he posted what he called an interview with Joaquin Oliver (pictured right), who was one of the teenaged victims of Nikolas Cruz at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in 2018. Acosta explained why he was performing the interview in a post on X. ‘A show you don’t want to miss at 4p ET / 1p PT. I’ll be having a one of a kind interview with Joaquin Oliver,’ he wrote. ‘He died in the Parkland school shooting in 2018. But his parents have created an AI version of their son to deliver a powerful message on gun violence.’

The interview essentially showed an AI recreation of Oliver speaking about gun control on what would’ve been the victim’s 25th birthday. ‘Joaquin, I would like to know what your solution would be for gun violence,’ Acosta asked. ‘Great question. I believe in a mix of stronger gun control laws, mental health support, and community engagement. We need to create safe spaces for conversations and connections, making sure everyone feels seen and heard. It’s about building a culture of kindness and understanding. What do you think about that?’ ‘I think that’s a great idea, Joaquin,’ he responded.

Social media was aghast at the use of AI to allow Acosta to interview a deceased person. ‘Jim Acosta is now conducting fake interviews with AI recreations of dead children programmed to agree with him on gun control. Believe it or not, CNN may have kept him from being an even bigger psychotic freak,’ Greg Price declared. ‘Jim Acosta who took great offense to being labeled fake news is now conducting fake interviews with dead people for content and clicks,’ said journalist Stephen Miller. ‘In Jim’s defense, he probably has a very difficult time finding anyone alive willing to appear on his show,’ joked Holy Briden. ‘Jim Acosta hitting rock bottom. Conducting a “news” interview with an AI chat bot of a child who was killed in a school shooting so he can push partisan politics,’ added Ryan Saavedra.

In response to the criticism, Acosta shared a supportive video message from Oliver’s father, Manuel. ‘I am Oliver’s father. Today, he should be turning 25 years old. My wife and I asked our friend Jim Acosta to make an interview with our son because now, thanks to AI, we can bring him back. It was our idea, it was our plan and its still our plan,’ he said. ‘We feel Joaquin has a lot of things to say and as long as we have the option, we will use it. Stop blaming Jim. If the problem you have with is the AI, then you have the wrong problem. The real problem is my son was shot.’ ‘If you believe that that is not the problem, then you are part of the problem.’ Acosta added: ‘Joaquin, known as Guac, should be 25 years old today. His father approached me to do the story… to keep the memory of his son alive.’ It’s the latest adventure for Acosta in the first year of his Substack journey after departing CNN.

Instead of getting a new cable news or TV job, he started a Substack page where he mostly rails against Donald Trump and his administration. Acosta’s Substack has amassed 282,000 subscribers, more than 10,000 of whom have paid access, which is on pace to earn him well over $1 million. Paid plans available include a monthly one for $8 and an annual for $80. An option billed as a ‘Founding Member’ plan – also lasting a year – is available for $240. Substack only takes a 10 per cent commission on earnings through its platform, so even if 10,000 subscribers chose the yearly plan, he would net $720,000 a year. This may already be more than his CNN salary, which was never publicly available but believed to be between $700,000 and $2 million.

The Jim Acosta Show includes daily hour-long podcasts, which he said get 150,000 to 200,000 views each, plus other content that is paid-only. Each offers access to all of Acosta’s posts and the ability to post comments within ‘[Acosta’s] community’, with no differences specified between the ‘Founding Member’ and lower-tiered ‘Annual’ plans. He ran a ‘virtual town hall’ on Wednesday to interact with his paid subscribers, and has a feed where he writes Twitter-style musings and re-shares other content. That includes disgraced ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s own Substack, after interviewing him about Trump’s golf skills, among other topics.

Other recent guests include JFK researchers Larry Sabato, Congressman Brendan Boyle, Voice of America journalist Steve Herman and Elise Labott, and former New Orleands mayor Mitch Landrieu. Acosta says he is par of the ‘independent media revolution’, despite being a longtime cable news anchor and not even knowing what Substack was before he quit CNN. He is using the first personal computer he owned in 20 years, after he handed back the CNN-issued machine on his way out the door.

Acosta left CNN days after it reported one of its worst ratings months in history, weeks after a round of layoffs that affected almost 200. He was spared, though a lineup revamp saw him stripped of his usual 10 am hour. Despite efforts to set him up with a new one, the anchor made clear on the set of CNN Newsroom that he was going his own way. Within hours, he was advertising his Substack offering paid subscriptions.