Generative AI has been used for some very creative purposes. However, according to CNN, this time around, there's hope that it can be used for justice.
A voice recording on a mother's cellphone outside the office doors of lawmakers on Capitol Hill carries the voice of Joaquin Oliver on the sixth anniversary of his death.
Who was Joaquin Oliver?
He was a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School; "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 assault rifle," the voice says. "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," the voice continues. "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."
Change the Ref
Manuel and Patricia Oliver lost their 17-year-old son in the Parkland mass shooting of 2018. The organization they helped found in his memory, Change the Ref, launched the voice message campaign.
The audio is but one of six voice messages of young people killed by gun violence that AI has generated as part of a new campaign launched by the aforementioned Change the Ref and March For Our Lives to urge lawmakers to act on gun control.
"My wife and I have been trying to use our voices for the last six years. Nonstop. We have tried almost every single way to approach gun violence in a way that people will pay attention. We haven't been very successful," says Manuel Oliver, who founded the Change the Ref advocacy group in memory of his son after the 2018 shooting in Florida."So we decided, you know what? Let's bring the voices of our loved ones. Let's bring the voice of Joaquin."
The Shotline, the campaign's website, urges people to listen to the voice messages, enter a zip code, and send the calls to members of Congress.
The campaign was launched on the day of a mass shooting at a Super Bowl parade in Kansas City that resulted in the death of one person and wounded more than 20 others, more than half of whom were children. The Gun Violence Archive reports that there have been 50 mass shootings in the United States in 2024.
