At 81, Charles Biétry lost the use of his voice but you will hear him speak in seven to eight (TF1) tonight: How is it possible?

This Sunday, January 26, 2025, from 7:30 p.m., Seven to eight will offer a moving and unique portrait of Charles Biétry. At 81, the ex-director of sports of Canal+ and emblematic figure of sports journalism in France will confide in his fight against Charcot's disease, also called Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (SLA). This neurodegenerative pathology has deprived it of the use of its voice, but thanks to an artificial intelligence technology, the latter can again express themselves. Journalist Audrey Crespo-Mara went to Brittany, to the home of the one who would only have a few weeks to live in Carnac, for a meeting imprint of sincerity and courage. This portrait accompanies the release of the octogenarian's memoirs, The last waveto be published on January 29 at Flammarion.

Charles Biétry: Artificial intelligence at the service of emotion

“The words are in my head and I cannot get them out, so we curl up and we may no longer have contact with the outside“, says Charles Biétry, who can only communicate using a computer. “I did not personally know Charles Biétry. But for a long time, we exchanged by interposed messages. We were talking about his illness, his desire or not to talk about it”explains Audrey Crespo-Mara this Sunday in an interview with Parisian.

Faced with the impossibility for Charles Biétry to speak directly facing the camera, the TF1 team opted for an innovative solution. The host sent her questions to the former journalist, who answered it in writing. These responses were then integrated into Artificial intelligence softwarecapable of recreating identically the voice of the one who has already thought about assisted suicide. “It was out of the question that the disease, which deprives him of speaking, prevents him from testifying if he wanted. His vitality would make it possible to push all the limits. As he says, he is a Breton warrior!“declares Audrey Crespo-Mara to Parisian. Thanks to this technology, viewers will be able to hear Charles Biétry as if he were speaking orally. “”You will see, watching him answer me, facing the camera, as usual in the portraits of seven to eight, you will forget that no sound comes out of his mouth. He talks to you. He carries his voice and his voice carries him “adds Audrey Crespo-Mara, visibly marked by this exchange.

A light testimony despite the disease

Over the interview, Charles Biétry addresses several sensitive subjects, including his fight against Charcot's disease and his reflections on the end of life. A theme that is particularly close to his heart while the debate on help to die is raging in France. “It is a courageous and luminous testimony, an ode to the life he gives us. His fight to continue laughing with his family, until the end, the memories of a happy professional life, and his disappointed hopes on the bill on end of life“summarizes the beloved of Thierry Ardisson. An testimony to discover this evening on TF1, in a portrait that promises to upset and make people think.