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48 migrants die after trailer abandoned in Texas heat
By ERIC GAY and ELLIOT SPAGAT
15 minutes ago
Police and other first responders work the scene where officials say dozens of people have been found dead and multiple others were taken to hospitals with heat-related illnesses after a semitrailer containing suspected migrants was found, Monday, June 27, 2022, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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Police and other first responders work the scene where officials say dozens of people have been found dead and multiple others were taken to hospitals with heat-related illnesses after a semitrailer containing suspected migrants was found, Monday, June 27, 2022, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Forty-eight people died after being abandoned in a tractor-trailer in the sweltering Texas heat, one of the worst tragedies to claim the lives of migrants smuggled across the border from Mexico to the U.S. Sixteen people were hospitalized, including four children.
A city worker heard a cry for help from the truck on a lonely San Antonio back road shortly before 6 p.m. Monday and discovered the gruesome scene, Police Chief William McManus said. Hours later, body bags lay spread on the ground near the trailer and bodies remained inside as authorities responded to the calamity.
Forty-six people were found dead near the scene, authorities said, and two more people later died at a hospital, said Patti Tanner, a spokesperson at Baptist Health System in San Antonio.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said those who died had “families who were likely trying to find a better life.”
“This is nothing short of a horrific human tragedy,” Nirenberg said.
It’s among the deadliest of the tragedies that have claimed thousands of lives in recent decades as people attempt to cross the U.S. border from Mexico. Ten migrants died in 2017 after being trapped inside a truck parked at a Walmart in San Antonio. In 2003, the bodies of 19 migrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.
https://apnews.com/article/politics-mexico-san-antonio-12d7431c008ea0123dfa9c271a27a3ca
Was a very good day indeed.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/23/23179748/amazon-alexa-feature-mimic-voice-dead-relative-ai
Amazon shows off Alexa feature that mimics the voices of your dead relatives
Amazon has revealed an experimental Alexa feature that allows the AI assistant to mimic the voices of users’ dead relatives.
The company demoed the feature at its annual MARS conference, showing a video in which a child asks Alexa to read a bedtime story in the voice of his dead grandmother.
“As you saw in this experience, instead of Alexa’s voice reading the book, it’s the kid’s grandma’s voice,” said Rohit Prasad, Amazon’s head scientist forAlexa AI. Prasad introduced the clip by saying that adding “human attributes” to AI systems was increasingly important “in these times of the ongoing pandemic, when so many of us have lost someone we love.”
“While AI can’t eliminate that pain of loss, it can definitely make their memories last,” said Prasad. You can watch the demo itself below:
Amazon has given no indication whether this feature will ever be made public, but says its systems can learn to imitate someone’s voice from just a single minute of recorded audio. In an age of abundant videos and voice notes, this means it’s well within the average consumer’s reach to clone the voices of loved ones — or anyone else they like.
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Although this specific application is already controversial, with users on social media calling the feature “creepy” and a “monstrosity,” such AI voice mimicry has become increasingly common in recent years. These imitations are often known as “audio deepfakes” and are already regularly used in industries like podcasting, film and TV, and video games.
Audio deepfakes are already common in podcasting and film
Many audio recording suites, for example, offer users the option to clone individual voices from their recordings. That way, if a podcast host flubs her or his line, for example, a sound engineer can edit what they’ve said simply by typing in a new script. Replicating lines of seamless speech requires a lot of work, but very small edits can be made with a few clicks.
The same technology has been used in film, too. Last year, it was revealed that a documentary about the life of chef Anthony Bourdain, who died in 2018, used AI to clone his voice in order to read quotes from emails he sent. Many fans were disgusted by the application of the technology, calling it “ghoulish” and “deceptive.” Others defended the use of the technology as similar to other reconstructions used in documentaries.
Amazon’s Prasad said the feature could enable customers to have “lasting personal relationships” with the deceased, and it’s certainly true that many people around the world are already using AI for this purpose. People have already created chatbots that imitate dead loved ones, for example, training AI based on stored conversations. Adding accurate voices to these systems — or even video avatars — is entirely possible using today’s AI technology, and is likely to become more widespread.
However, whether or not customers will want their dead loved ones to become digital AI puppets is another matter entirely.