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Transcript

Parents of gun-violence victims use AI to push for change · Apple News Today

• 0:00
  [INTRO MUSIC BEGINS]
• 0:05
  Gideon Resnick, Narrating: Good morning. It's Friday, February 16th.
• 0:07
  I'm Gideon Resnick, in for Shumita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
• 0:11
  Coming up on today's show,
• 0:13
  A.I. brings back the voices of children killed by gun violence,
• 0:17
  threats against federal judges are on the rise,
• 0:21
  and an amazing moment in women's basketball.
• 0:25
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
• 0:28
  But first, let’s take a look at a few other stories in the news.
• 0:32
  We’re following reports from Russian state media
• 0:34
  that opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in jail.
• 0:37
  He led a years-long campaign against corruption in Russia
• 0:40
  and survived a poisoning attempt in 2020.
• 0:43
  He was imprisoned in 2021, and more recently moved
• 0:46
  to a remote penal colony near the Arctic Circle.
• 0:49
  As "NBC News" notes, this would mean all of President Vladimir Putin’s
• 0:53
  most high-profile critics are either dead, in jail, or exiled.
• 0:58
  Navalny’s political team has not independently confirmed his death.
• 1:02
  And, in other Russia-related news, there are questions and concerns
• 1:06
  about global security following reports based on U.S. intelligence
• 1:10
  that Russia hopes to put a nuclear weapon in space to target satellites.
• 1:15
  There are a lot of unknowns here,
• 1:17
  but White House spokesman John Kirby confirmed yesterday
• 1:20
  there is a weapon being developed by Russia to target satellites,
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  and the U.S. has been aware for "many months,"
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  but he declined to answer questions about its nuclear capabilities.
• 1:29
  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 1:29
  White House Spokesman John Kirby: Though Russia's pursuit of this particular capability
• 1:32
  is troubling, there is no immediate threat to anyone's safety.
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  We are not talking about a weapon that can be used to attack human beings
• 1:39
  or cause physical destruction here on Earth.
• 1:43
  That said, we've been closely monitoring this Russian activity
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  and we will continue to take it very seriously.
• 1:48
  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 1:49
  Resnick, Narrating: In Kansas City, there are some updates
• 1:51
  after Wednesday’s shooting at the Super Bowl celebration rally.
• 1:55
  Police have said the shooting appears to have been the result
• 1:57
  of a personal dispute.
• 1:59
  Two teens are in custody, but no charges have been filed yet.
• 2:03
  Over 20 victims in all have been identified,
• 2:04
  ranging in age from 8 to 47 years old, and one person died.
• 2:10
  She's a radio DJ and mom of two from Missouri
• 2:12
  who was at the parade with her daughter.
• 2:15
  Her family told "CNN" she was a loud and proud Chiefs fan
• 2:18
  and "the light at every party."
• 2:21
  In political news,
• 2:22
  a former confidential informant for the FBI has been charged
• 2:25
  with lying about President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
• 2:29
  According to the Department of Justice, this informant, Alexander Smirnov,
• 2:32
  lied to the FBI for years
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  about the Bidens' business relationship with a Ukrainian energy company.
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  House Republicans have heavily relied on those false accusations
• 2:43
  to mount an impeachment inquiry for Biden.
• 2:46
  Smirnov has been charged with creating false records
• 2:48
  and could spend up to 25 years in federal prison if he's convicted.
• 2:53
  And in a Georgia courtroom yesterday, things got contentious
• 2:56
  in a hearing related to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis,
• 3:01
  who has charged former President Trump
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  in an election interference case in the state.
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  She took the stand to testify under oath about her ethics.
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  Willis answered personal questions
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  about a romantic relationship with a member of her prosecution team,
• 3:15
  which Trump and his co-defendants argue should disqualify Willis from the case.
• 3:21
  Her testimony quickly got heated in court yesterday.
• 3:24
  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 3:24
  District Attorney Fani Willis: I object to you getting records.
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  You've been intrusive into people's personal lives.
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  You're confused. You think I'm on trial.
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  These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020.
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  I'm not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.
• 3:37
  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 3:37
  [PENSIVE MUSIC FADES IN]
• 3:38
  Resnick, Narrating: That hearing continues today, with more testimony expected from Willis.
• 3:51
  New reporting from "Reuters" found that U.S. federal judges
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  are dealing with a surge in threats stemming from politically driven violence.
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  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
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  Data from the U.S. Marshals Service shows serious threats,
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  or ones that lead to an investigation by the agency,
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  more than doubled in the few years following the 2020 presidential election.
• 4:09
  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 4:09
  Peter Eisler: You're seeing these politically charged cases
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  generate anger and hostility and threats on all sides of the political spectrum.
• 4:20
  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 4:20
  Resnick, Narrating: That's "Reuters" reporter Peter Eisler.
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  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 4:23
  Eisler: But there's been a particularly notable number of threats
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  associated with these cases against former President Trump.
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  And former President Trump has shown a willingness,
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  both during his presidency and since,
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  to criticize judges who rule against his interests
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  in unusually personal terms. He will suggest that they're biased.
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  He will sometimes suggest that they are corrupt.
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  And we've seen prosecutors and judges in those cases
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  reporting large numbers of threats in many instances.
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  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 4:51
  Resnick, Narrating: The U.S. Marshals Service is responsible for the protection
• 4:54
  of close to 3,000 federal judges and other court personnel.
• 4:58
  On Wednesday, the Director, Ron Davis, testified before members of Congress.
• 5:02
  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 5:02
  U.S. Marshals Director Ronald Davis: A federal judge got a phone call from someone who said, quote,
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  "I'm going to kill you if you don't kill yourself," unquote.
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  In another case, someone threatened to, quote,
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  "go to a federal courthouse and do a mass shooting," unquote.
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  And it was mentioned at the opening,
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  we cannot forget in 2022, there was an attempted assassination
• 5:22
  of a United States Supreme Court justice at his residence
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  that was deterred by Deputy Marshals standing their post.
• 5:27
  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 5:28
  Resnick, Narrating: He told lawmakers that more than 70% of federal judges
• 5:31
  have opted into a program providing electronic security systems
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  that detect home intrusions.
• 5:37
  Some worry the increase in threats
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  might change the way some judges see their work.
• 5:42
  Here's Eisler again.
• 5:44
  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 5:44
  Eisler: The judges that we've spoken to have all told us
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  that they are not swayed by these threats, that they don't affect their rulings.
• 5:51
  But you do hear some concern about the willingness of judges
• 5:57
  to take on these highly charged cases.
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  You know, if a judge knows that a case about abortion
• 6:04
  or a case related to allegations against former President Trump
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  are gonna generate this sort of cascade of intimidating and hostile communication,
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  will they start to not want to take on those cases?
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  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 6:18
  Resnick, Narrating: Recently, Attorney General Merrick Garland expressed worries
• 6:21
  about threats against public officials more broadly,
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  from federal judges to candidates and even election workers.
• 6:28
  [GENTLE MUSIC FADES IN]
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  He said they threaten the fabric of our democracy.
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  A quick heads-up that this next story
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  about using A.I. to recreate the voices of people who have died
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  may be a little bit difficult to hear
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  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
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  because those people are children who were killed by gun violence.
• 6:54
  [START A.I. VOICE ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 6:55
  AI Voice of Uzi Garcia: Hi, this is Uzi Garcia.
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  I love video games, telling jokes, and making my friends laugh,
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  and jumping on the trampoline with my family.
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  I'm a fourth grader at Robb Elementary School
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  in Uvalde, Texas, or, at least, I was.
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  [END A.I. VOICE ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 7:13
  Resnick, Narrating: The A.I. voice of Uzi goes on to describe the shooting at his school,
• 7:17
  where he, 18 other kids, and two teachers were killed.
• 7:21
  And the A.I. voice pleads with lawmakers to change the country's gun laws,
• 7:25
  as does the A.I. voice of Ethan Song.
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  He died at 15, when he was accidentally shot
• 7:30
  with an unsecured gun at his friend's house.
• 7:32
  [START MONTAGE OF ARCHIVAL CLIPS]
• 7:33
  [A.I. VOICE ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 7:33
  AI Voice of Ethan Song: Usually, I was the one helping people and animals. I loved animals.
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  I fostered like 95 dogs and puppies, but I can't help anyone anymore.
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  [ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 7:43
  Joanna Stern: I heard these recordings from these kids about a week ago,
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  and I heard them on my phone
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  and immediately was mouth-dropped, just "Wow."
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  [END MONTAGE OF ARCHIVAL CLIPS]
• 7:52
  Resnick, Narrating: Joanna Stern is a senior columnist on personal technology
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  at "The Wall Street Journal" who wrote about these A.I. recordings.
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  They are part of a campaign being led by the parents of shooting victims
• 8:02
  to lobby for gun control measures.
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  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 8:05
  Stern: The whole thing just sat with me. And I just said, "I got to do this story."
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  I got to go meet the parents who decided to do this
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  and find out what their motivation was and find out how they did this.
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  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 8:17
  Resnick, Narrating: So she met with Manny and Patricia Oliver, the parents of Joaquin Oliver.
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  He was 17 when he was killed
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  at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
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  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 8:26
  Stern: So when I sat with them,
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  one of the first questions I asked them was,
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  "People are going to say this is creepy."
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  And Manny's response was so powerful, and that's what really stuck with me.
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  He said, "You know, what's also creepy
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  is someone going into a school with an AR-15."
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  And he basically said, "If we have to use creepy tools to fight this,
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  welcome the creepy."
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  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 8:49
  Resnick, Narrating: Stern says in the future, more people may have to make decisions
• 8:53
  about whether they're okay with their likeness being recreated by A.I.
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  after they die.
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  And the use of A.I. in this way raises big ethical questions,
• 9:01
  like "How can you know how someone would want to be represented?"
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  But the parents of gun violence victims told Stern they feel confident
• 9:09
  their children would want these messages calling for policy change to be heard.
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  Their campaign doesn't try to fool anyone.
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  The parents are clear that they are using A.I. to generate their kids' voices.
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  But a lot of A.I.-generated content is intended to mislead and deceive.
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  There were those fake robocalls in New Hampshire
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  ahead of last month's primary election created with President Biden's voice.
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  Deepfakes of Robin Williams and George Carlin recently surfaced
• 9:34
  without the consent of their families.
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  In fact, the FCC just banned the use
• 9:38
  of these kinds of voices in scam robocalls.
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  Stern asked the parents if they were concerned
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  about their children's voices being misused and abused.
• 9:48
  [SOFT MUSIC FADES IN]
• 9:48
  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Stern: Literally, the quote was, "We want to take that risk."
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  "We think we can make a difference with this project."
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  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 10:03
  Resnick, Narrating: We're going to close with a couple stories that highlight
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  how exciting a moment we are in for women's basketball,
• 10:09
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
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  starting at the collegiate level.
• 10:11
  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 10:11
  Unidentified Speaker: Here comes Clark. How will she go for history?
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  There it is!
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  The all-time leading scorer in women's college basketball.
• 10:24
  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 10:24
  Resnick, Narrating: That was the sound of Iowa Hawkeye phenom Caitlin Clark sinking a three-point shot
• 10:29
  to become the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women's basketball.
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  She ended up scoring a career high yesterday against Michigan,
• 10:37
  with 49 points overall.
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  And while she puts up historic numbers,
• 10:42
  there is technically one woman who still has Clark beat.
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  Lynette Woodard played for Kansas in the 1970s and early 80s.
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  And she technically has more career points than Clark.
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  But the NCAA doesn't recognize her in the record books.
• 10:56
  That's because at the time she played,
• 10:57
  women's college sports were not part of the NCAA.
• 11:01
  But Clark is on pace to break Woodard's record
• 11:03
  and the all-time record for NCAA basketball
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  by the end of the season.
• 11:07
  And in women's professional basketball,
• 11:09
  New York Liberties star guard Sabrina Ionescu is going head-to-head
• 11:13
  against Golden State Warriors great Steph Curry
• 11:15
  in a three-point contest tomorrow.
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  It's part of the NBA's All-Star Weekend.
• 11:20
  Ionescu told "ESPN" they hope to highlight
• 11:22
  the connection between the NBA and the WNBA
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  and to make an impact on everyone watching.
• 11:28
  [START ESPN ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 11:28
  Sabrina Ionescu: There's going to be a young kid who maybe hasn't watched many WNBA games
• 11:32
  but is going to watch and tune into this. And they're going to have that dream
• 11:36
  of one day going up and shooting against their idol,
• 11:38
  and knowing what that's going to mean
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  and how that's going to change the landscape of sports…
• 11:43
  [OUTRO MUSIC FADES IN]
• 11:43
  [END ESPN ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 11:44
  Resnick, Narrating: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
• 11:47
  And if you're already listening in the News app right now,
• 11:49
  check out our weekend interview show, In Conversation.
• 11:52
  Guest host David Green is filling in for Shumita
• 11:54
  while she's on maternity leave.
• 11:56
  And this week, he speaks with former elite gymnast Maggie Nichols.
• 12:00
  She was the first athlete on the national team
• 12:02
  to report sexual abuse by former U.S.A. Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.
• 12:06
  Nichols talked about her experience not being selected
• 12:08
  for the U.S. Olympic team after coming forward.
• 12:11
  Maggie Nichols: When they announced all the names and my name wasn't, you know,
• 12:14
  said out loud for an alternate spot or anything,
• 12:17
  I honestly… I don't even know.
• 12:19
  I felt so many different emotions. I felt sad.
• 12:23
  I mean, my dream of going to the Olympics was over at that point.
• 12:26
  Resnick, Narrating: If you're listening in the Apple News app right now, that episode is coming up next.
• 12:30
  And if you're listening in the Podcasts app,
• 12:31
  just search for Apple News In Conversation to find and follow that show.
• 12:35
  Enjoy the weekend, and we'll be back with the news on Monday.
• 12:39
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]