- tech360.tv
Voices of Parkland Shooting Victims Resurrected in 'Creepy' AI Campaign for Gun Control
The voices of children killed in the Parkland shooting have been recreated using AI technology for a gun control campaign. The campaign aims to pressure lawmakers to take action on gun control by using the voices of the deceased victims. Parents of the victims express frustration with the lack of progress in gun control legislation.
The haunting voices of children who lost their lives in the tragic Parkland school shooting in 2018 have been brought back to life through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in a chilling gun control campaign. On Valentine's Day six years ago, a gunman unleashed terror at Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, resulting in the loss of 17 innocent lives.
Now, the parents of some of the victims, not only from Parkland but also from other school massacres, have harnessed AI technology to recreate their children's voices. These audio clips, derived from social media and home videos, are designed to sound like the deceased when played during a phone call.
One of the recreated voices is that of 17-year-old Joaquin Oliver, who tragically lost his life in the Parkland shooting. In the campaign led by The Shotline, Joaquin's voice can be heard saying, "I died that day in Parkland. My body was destroyed by a weapon of war."
The aim of the campaign, according to The Shotline, is to highlight the fact that guns claim the lives of thousands of innocent individuals every year. By using AI technology to recreate the voices of those who were shot and killed, the campaign hopes to urge lawmakers to take action and change the country's gun laws.
Joaquin's parents, Patricia and Manny Oliver, who founded the non-profit organization behind the project, expressed their frustration with the lack of progress from lawmakers. Manny stated, "This is a United States problem, and we have not been able to fix it. If we need to use creepy stuff to fix it, welcome to the creepy."
For Patricia, hearing her son's voice again felt like he was still present. She shared, "It was exactly like him. You want that to be true. I wanted him to say, 'Hi Mommy, how are you? I love you.'"
However, Patricia emphasised that the purpose of recreating Joaquin's voice was not just for the sake of it but to bring about the change he believed in.
The AI-generated audio clips were created using ElevenLabs, an AI voice generator that has sparked ongoing debates about the ethical implications of AI in relation to fraud, scams, and deepfakes.
In addition to Joaquin's voice, the campaign also features the voice of Uzi Garcia, a victim of a shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022. In his AI-generated phone call, Uzi says, "I'm a fourth-grader at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Or at least I was when a man with an AR-15 came into my school and killed 18 of my classmates, two teachers, and me."
Brett Cross, Uzi's father, shared his perspective on keeping his son's memory alive. He said, "You're not truly dead until the last person who remembers you is gone. So for however many years I have left, I'm going to keep introducing him to this world so that he'll outlast me."
The Parkland shooter, Nikolas Cruz, is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for committing the deadliest high school shooting in US history. In 2022, he was officially sentenced to 34 consecutive life sentences, one for each person he murdered and injured during the massacre.
While Cruz's sentencing brought some closure, many families of the victims criticised the decision, arguing that he deserved the death penalty for his heinous crimes.
The voices of children killed in the Parkland shooting have been recreated using AI technology for a gun control campaign.
The campaign aims to pressure lawmakers to take action on gun control by using the voices of the deceased victims.
Parents of the victims express frustration with the lack of progress in gun control legislation.
Source: MAIL ONLINE