Where is Jim Acosta now? Matt Walsh slams anchor’s interview with Joaquin Oliver’s AI version as “dehumanizing” and “extremely depressing”

Matt Walsh sharply criticized journalist Jim Acosta for interviewing an AI version of Joaquin Oliver, a student killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting. In the August 6, 2025, episode of The Matt Walsh Podcast, Walsh argued that Acosta’s segment reduced Oliver’s humanity to oversimplified traits.

"First of all, reducing a human being to utterly benign traits…is dehumanizing and extremely depressing. We are not checkboxes. Even the most uninteresting person on the planet is way more interesting than…the way that they are describing and presenting Oliver," Walsh added.

Jim Acosta first announced the interview on August 5, 2025, via X, writing:

Jim Acosta

@Acosta

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 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. Plus Texas State

Jim Acosta, a former chief White House correspondent and anchor for CNN, is now signed with WME for representation. He uploaded the full interview with Oliver’s AI avatar on The Jim Acosta Show on August 5.

During the conversation, Acosta asked the avatar what had happened to him. The avatar responded that it had been taken from the world too soon due to "gun violence" at school and added that discussing such issues was important for creating a "safer future for everyone."

Referring to this interview, Walsh pointed out that, at the end of his interview, Acosta claimed that talking to the avatar was "exactly like talking to a human being." Walsh criticized the statement, pointing out that the avatar repeatedly ended its "robotic" answers with questions to Acosta, which was common chatbot behavior.

"And with that footage, Acasta managed to unite both conservatives and leftists together on Blue Sky X, Facebook, everywhere else to condemn him as a complete and total buffoon who should never show his face in public ever again," he added.

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What else did Matt Walsh say about Jim Acosta’s interview with the AI version of Joaquin Oliver?

Jim Acosta (Image via Getty)

Matt Walsh not only criticized former CNN anchor Jim Acosta for interviewing an AI recreation of Joaquin Oliver but also argued that the segment was both inappropriate and unsettling.

Calling it a "historic moment," Walsh stated it united people across all backgrounds in the belief that Acosta should "find another line of work immediately." He further argued that the public had no interest in watching such experiments.

"First of all, no one wants to see any more of this…As entertaining as that may be, there’d be no point," Walsh added.

He went on to describe Acosta’s exchange with the avatar of Oliver as "a real-life Black Mirror episode," suggesting it was disturbing on multiple levels. Walsh then stated that Oliver's avatar was meant to contribute meaningfully to the conversation about gun safety. But according to him, it did not do a good job of creating a compelling argument.

"The AI was asked about its ideas to reduce gun violence… (it) just produced the least interesting series of cliches imaginable and just vomited them out one by one…If you set a human down and told him to produce meaningless word salad for about 20 seconds, you'd be hard pressed to come up with a worse answer," he stated.

The other purpose, Walsh stated, was to give Oliver’s parents the illusion that their son was still alive. For Walsh, this was "the most disturbing part of all of this." He argued that no technology could bring back a deceased loved one and called this attempt "a tragic failure." He also warned against efforts to "assume the role of the divine."

Walsh pointed out that even the most devoted supporters on the left could not be convinced by such a project, adding that the only person showing interest was Acosta.

"The only person who's even feigning interest is Jim Acosta alone in his home, sitting in front of a webcam, desperate for an audience that he never had. This does not honor anyone's memory... And that is why Jim Acosta and his interview with an AI posing as a reincarnated human being are today cancelled," Walsh remarked.

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More about Jim Acosta

Jim Acosta (Image via Getty Images)

Jim Acosta, the veteran political journalist, spent more than 16 years at CNN.

Acosta grew up in Northern Virginia, idolizing Sam Donaldson and devouring the news. He wrote for Annandale High School’s student paper, The A-Blast, and served as news director for James Madison University’s college radio station. He later worked his way up to national news through jobs in Knoxville, Dallas, and Chicago.

After joining CNN in 2007, Acosta covered landmark events such as the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, and multiple presidential campaigns.

He also served as senior White House correspondent during Barack Obama’s second term before becoming CNN’s chief White House correspondent in 2018, where his pointed questions often frustrated then-President Donald Trump.

Following a stint as a highly rated morning show host, Acosta was moved to a midnight slot in CNN’s 2024 lineup shake-up, prompting his departure. He then launched The Jim Acosta Show on Substack and YouTube.

Reflecting on his decision to continue reporting after leaving CNN, Acosta noted in an April 16, 2025 interview with Washingtonian.

"I guess I could have taken a couple of weeks off and grown a beard and headed off to the Northwest Territory, but there was so much news going on," he stated (via Washingtonian).

He also noted that his current work was less stressful than his years as a high-profile Trump critic, which “got a little intense” during the first administration. CNN had even hired bodyguards for him and other employees covering Trump rallies.

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Jim Acosta continues to report as an independent journalist through The Jim Acosta Show, on YouTube and Substack.