Last year, over 40,000 victims lost their lives to guns. Introducing The Shotline, a platform where the voices of victims killed by gun violence have been brought back using AI technology. These voices will call our representatives again and again in hopes of changing our gun laws. Visit theshotline.org to send a call.
Starting today, congresspeople will receive calls from Joaquin Oliver, a teenager advocating for an end to gun violence. But the voice on the line is that of a ghost, as Joaquin died six years ago in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Oliver voice, along with those of five other shooting victims, have been re-created using AI for a campaign called “The Shotline.” Machine learning technology digested real audio recordings of the individuals and constructed new speech in the sounds of their voices.
These are, in effect, consensual deepfakes, permitted by the families of the victims to apply pressure on American policymakers.