Parents of gun-violence victims use AI to push for change

Good morning. It's Friday, February 16th. I'm Gideon Resnick, in for Shumita Basu. This is Apple News Today. Coming up on today's show, A.I. brings back the voices of children killed by gun violence, threats against federal judges are on the rise, and an amazing moment in women's basketball.

But first, let’s take a look at a few other stories in the news. We’re following reports from Russian state media that opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in jail. He led a years-long campaign against corruption in Russia and survived a poisoning attempt in 2020. He was imprisoned in 2021, and more recently moved to a remote penal colony near the Arctic Circle. As "NBC News" notes, this would mean all of President Vladimir Putin’s most high-profile critics are either dead, in jail, or exiled.

Though Russia's pursuit of this particular capability is troubling, there is no immediate threat to anyone's safety. We are not talking about a weapon that can be used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on Earth. That said, we've been closely monitoring this Russian activity and we will continue to take it very seriously.

In Kansas City, there are some updates after Wednesday’s shooting at the Super Bowl celebration rally. Police have said the shooting appears to have been the result of a personal dispute. Two teens are in custody, but no charges have been filed yet. Over 20 victims in all have been identified, ranging in age from 8 to 47 years old, and one person died. She's a radio DJ and mom of two from Missouri who was at the parade with her daughter.

I object to you getting records. You've been intrusive into people's personal lives. You're confused. You think I'm on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020. I'm not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.

That hearing continues today, with more testimony expected from Willis. New reporting from "Reuters" found that U.S. federal judges are dealing with a surge in threats stemming from politically driven violence.

Data from the U.S. Marshals Service shows serious threats, or ones that lead to an investigation by the agency, more than doubled in the few years following the 2020 presidential election.

You're seeing these politically charged cases generate anger and hostility and threats on all sides of the political spectrum.

That's "Reuters" reporter Peter Eisler.

But there's been a particularly notable number of threats associated with these cases against former President Trump. And former President Trump has shown a willingness, both during his presidency and since, to criticize judges who rule against his interests in unusually personal terms. He will suggest that they're biased. He will sometimes suggest that they are corrupt. And we've seen prosecutors and judges in those cases reporting large numbers of threats in many instances.

The U.S. Marshals Service is responsible for the protection of close to 3,000 federal judges and other court personnel. On Wednesday, the Director, Ron Davis, testified before members of Congress.

A federal judge got a phone call from someone who said, quote, "I'm going to kill you if you don't kill yourself," unquote. In another case, someone threatened to, quote, "go to a federal courthouse and do a mass shooting," unquote. And it was mentioned at the opening, we cannot forget in 2022, there was an attempted assassination of a United States Supreme Court justice at his residence that was deterred by Deputy Marshals standing their post.

He told lawmakers that more than 70% of federal judges have opted into a program providing electronic security systems that detect home intrusions. Some worry the increase in threats might change the way some judges see their work. Here's Eisler again.

The judges that we've spoken to have all told us that they are not swayed by these threats, that they don't affect their rulings. But you do hear some concern about the willingness of judges to take on these highly charged cases. You know, if a judge knows that a case about abortion or a case related to allegations against former President Trump are gonna generate this sort of cascade of intimidating and hostile communication, will they start to not want to take on those cases?

Recently, Attorney General Merrick Garland expressed worries about threats against public officials more broadly, from federal judges to candidates and even election workers.

He said they threaten the fabric of our democracy. A quick heads-up that this next story about using A.I. to recreate the voices of people who have died may be a little bit difficult to hear

because those people are children who were killed by gun violence.

Hi, this is Uzi Garcia. I love video games, telling jokes, and making my friends laugh, and jumping on the trampoline with my family. I'm a fourth grader at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, or, at least, I was.

The A.I. voice of Uzi goes on to describe the shooting at his school, where he, 18 other kids, and two teachers were killed. And the A.I. voice pleads with lawmakers to change the country's gun laws, as does the A.I. voice of Ethan Song. He died at 15, when he was accidentally shot with an unsecured gun at his friend's house.

Usually, I was the one helping people and animals. I loved animals. I fostered like 95 dogs and puppies, but I can't help anyone anymore.

I heard these recordings from these kids about a week ago, and I heard them on my phone and immediately was mouth-dropped, just "Wow."

Joanna Stern is a senior columnist on personal technology at "The Wall Street Journal" who wrote about these A.I. recordings. They are part of a campaign being led by the parents of shooting victims to lobby for gun control measures.

The whole thing just sat with me. And I just said, "I got to do this story." I got to go meet the parents who decided to do this and find out what their motivation was and find out how they did this.

So she met with Manny and Patricia Oliver, the parents of Joaquin Oliver. He was 17 when he was killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

So when I sat with them, one of the first questions I asked them was, "People are going to say this is creepy." And Manny's response was so powerful, and that's what really stuck with me. He said, "You know, what's also creepy is someone going into a school with an AR-15." And he basically said, "If we have to use creepy tools to fight this, welcome the creepy."

Stern says in the future, more people may have to make decisions about whether they're okay with their likeness being recreated by A.I. after they die. And the use of A.I. in this way raises big ethical questions, like "How can you know how someone would want to be represented?" But the parents of gun violence victims told Stern they feel confident their children would want these messages calling for policy change to be heard. Their campaign doesn't try to fool anyone.

Literally, the quote was, "We want to take that risk." "We think we can make a difference with this project."

We're going to close with a couple stories that highlight how exciting a moment we are in for women's basketball,

starting at the collegiate level.

Here comes Clark. How will she go for history? There it is! The all-time leading scorer in women's college basketball.

That was the sound of Iowa Hawkeye phenom Caitlin Clark sinking a three-point shot to become the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women's basketball. She ended up scoring a career high yesterday against Michigan, with 49 points overall. And while she puts up historic numbers, there is technically one woman who still has Clark beat. Lynette Woodard played for Kansas in the 1970s and early 80s. And she technically has more career points than Clark.

There's going to be a young kid who maybe hasn't watched many WNBA games but is going to watch and tune into this. And they're going to have that dream of one day going up and shooting against their idol, and knowing what that's going to mean and how that's going to change the landscape of sports…

You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, check out our weekend interview show, In Conversation. Guest host David Green is filling in for Shumita while she's on maternity leave. And this week, he speaks with former elite gymnast Maggie Nichols. She was the first athlete on the national team to report sexual abuse by former U.S.A. Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. Nichols talked about her experience not being selected

When they announced all the names and my name wasn't, you know, said out loud for an alternate spot or anything, I honestly… I don't even know. I felt so many different emotions. I felt sad. I mean, my dream of going to the Olympics was over at that point.

If you're listening in the Apple News app right now, that episode is coming up next. And if you're listening in the Podcasts app, just search for Apple News In Conversation to find and follow that show. Enjoy the weekend, and we'll be back with the news on Monday.