'Uncomfortable' AI-generated voicemails from gun violence victims swarm Congress

Activist groups are using a typical advocacy tool — voicemails to members of Congress — with a new, uncomfortable twist: They’re from the deceased victims of gun violence, generated by artificial intelligence.

TheShotline.org, a gun reform campaign by March for Our Lives and Change the REF, is asking constituents nationwide to send representatives in their zip code the AI-generated phone calls.

The voice memos feature six victims of gun violence, including those killed in mass shootings, suicide, and people like 15-year-old Ethan Song, whose accidental death was the result of an unsecured gun in 2018 in Connecticut. The digital rendition of Ethan’s voice briefly explains his passion for helping animals and people and the inability to continue to “help anyone in need anymore.” It quickly segues into a plea to lawmakers to “finally do something to protect kids from guns” and a warning to members of Congress that if gun reform bills aren’t passed, they face the risk of being voted out.

The advocacy organizations hope the chilling recordings will lead to the passage of federal gun reform, specifically an assault weapons ban.

“I want these politicians to sit there and listen,” said Brett Cross, a father of one of the victims featured on Shotline.org, “I want them to imagine that that's their children's voices, because they didn't do anything to prevent countless children being slaughtered.”

Florida Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost, called the AI-generated audio “heartbreaking” and “uncomfortable.” He added, “That's the point of it. The point is to feel uncomfortable.”

Of course, most Democrats have been highly supportive of increased firearm regulation for decades. Republicans, however, remain largely unconvinced. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) who has also received messages from the hotline, said his GOP colleagues are “the primary obstacle” when it comes to passing strong gun safety laws.

Republican Congressman Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who has consistently echoed concerns for potential over-regulation of artificial intelligence, criticized TheShotline.org for being “fraudulent” and said the calls were an ineffective approach for systemic change.

“My office has received these types of calls,” Burchett said in a statement to POLITICO. “If people want to make their voices heard, they should contact their elected representatives and express their concerns directly.”

Blumenthal reflected on one TheShotline.org message from 15-year-old Ethan Song saying, “His voice was so really moving. I hope that it will shake up some of my colleagues and that we can move forward. These [gun reform proposals] are supported by 90 percent of the American people, and Ethan is speaking for them.”

Watch the video to hear what Blumenthal, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, has to say about the use of AI in this way.