After the tragic loss of their children to gun violence, parents have turned to innovative AI technology to amplify their voices in the fight for stricter gun control laws.
GUNS SILENCE THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT LIVES EVERY YEAR. USING AI TECHNOLOGY, WE RE-CREATED THE VOICES OF THOSE SHOT AND KILLED BY GUNS SO THEY CAN CALL OUR REPRESENTATIVES IN HOPES OF CHANGING OUR COUNTRY'S GUN LAWS.
Launching The Shotline
The emergence of The Shotline project has ignited a debate on the ethical implications of utilizing AI to replicate audio voices, commonly referred to as deepfakes.
Spearheaded by parents affected by the Parkland school shooting in 2018, The Shotline harnesses AI to recreate the voices of young victims and dispatch automated calls to lawmakers.
Launched six years after the devastating Parkland tragedy, Engadget reported that The Shotline memorializes the voices of six children and young adults who fell victim to gun violence incidents nationwide.
By entering their zip code, users can connect with their local representatives and advocate for stricter gun laws through automated calls voiced by the AI-generated personas of the deceased.
"I'm back today because my parents used AI to recreate my voice to call you," asserts the AI-generated voice of Joaquin Oliver, one of the Parkland shooting victims.
The initiative has already garnered significant traction, with over 8,000 AI calls submitted to lawmakers via the website at the time of reporting.
Using ElevenLabs' Voice Cloning Service
Manuel Oliver, along with his wife Patricia, expressed to the Journal that addressing gun violence is a widespread issue in the United States that remains unresolved. They emphasized their willingness to resort to unconventional methods if necessary to address the problem.
To replicate the voices, the Olivers employed a voice cloning service offered by ElevenLabs, a startup that recently secured $80 million in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.
This software, developed over the past two years, can recreate voices in over two dozen languages with just a few minutes of vocal recordings.
Allegedly, the Olivers sourced vocal samples from their son's social media posts. Parents and legal guardians of gun violence victims are invited to contribute their voices to The Shotline's repository of AI-generated voices by completing a form.
Read also: School Swatting: False Reports About Shooting Incidents Are Disrupting US Schools, Communities
The utilization of AI to produce voice deepfakes of deceased individuals within the project has prompted ethical concerns.
Recently, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) deemed robocalls employing AI-generated voices illegal, following instances where voters in New Hampshire received calls impersonating President Joe Biden, urging them not to vote in the state's primary.
A study conducted by security firm Pindrop indicated that the audio deepfake of Biden was crafted using software developed by ElevenLabs.
Mati Staniszewski, co-founder of ElevenLabs, informed the Journal that their platform enables individuals to replicate the voices of deceased loved ones, provided they possess the necessary rights and permissions.
However, it remains uncertain whether parents of minors have the legal authority to grant such rights for their children's likenesses.
