Current Events > Parents of murdered student use AI to create message shaming inaction

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https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/gun-victims-ai-robocalls-1.7115182

If the idea of getting a phone call from a teenager who was killed in a mass shooting makes you uncomfortable, Patricia Oliver says that's the point.

Six years after her son Joaquin Oliver, 17, was gunned down at his Parkland, Fla., high school, a new gun reform campaign is using a recreation of his voice, generated by artificial intelligence, to robocall U.S. politicians.

"The point is to make people in Congress feel uncomfortable," Oliver told As It Happens host Nil Kksal. "Maybe that makes them move forward."

The campaign called the Shotline launched on Valentine's Day to mark the anniversary of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland.

'I died that day in Parkland'

People can go to the project's website and choose from seven AI recordings of people who were killed by gun violence, and send them to elected U.S. representatives of their choice.

It's a joint project by March For Life, a student-led gun control advocacy group, and Change the Ref, an organization Joaquin's parents created to defeat politicians who support gun lobbyists and manufacturers.

n Joaquin's message, an AI voice says: "Six years ago, I was a senior at Parkland. Many students and teachers were murdered on Valentine's Day that year by a person using an AR 15. But you don't care. You never did. It's been six years, and you've done nothing. Not a thing to stop all the shootings that have continued to happen since.

"The thing is, I died that day in Parkland. My body was destroyed by a weapon of war. I'm back today because my parents used AI to recreate my voice to call you. Other victims like me will be calling too, again and again to demand action.

"How many calls will it take for you to care? How many dead voices will you hear before you finally listen? Every day your inaction creates more voices. If you fail to act now, we'll find someone who will."

There's also a robocall using the AI-generated voice of Uziyah Garcia, a 10-year-old who was killed in the 2022 elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Brett Cross, Uziyah's uncle and caretaker, says the family decided to participate "so that no other child will have to go through what Uzi did. No other parent should have to go through what we have."

More in the article.

I heard the audio myself this morning and it was quite moving. I like the idea of giving even the dead a voice, similar to how Mamie Till made sure they knew what happened to her son and how Australia's final straw came from forcing the public to confront the images after a massacre.

As I heard another person say, "If I'm killed in a shooting dump my body on the Capitol steps".

They can afford to feel a little uncomfortable in exchange for our senseless deaths.

I'll wait for the legislation that makes this illegal.. /s? I don't know anymore

I'm a little surprised they had good enough training data if he died 6 years ago since I'm gonna assume the whole AI thing was not planned out beforehand

Creepy, but I get it. I don't know if it will influence any politician though. They might even hang up on it

I approve. Doubt it does anything though.

kirbymuncher posted...

I'm a little surprised they had good enough training data if he died 6 years ago since I'm gonna assume the whole AI thing was not planned out beforehand

I'm sure they had years of audio for his voice, as most good parents do.