Latest news with #MarjorieStonemanDouglasHighSchool
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jim Acosta Defends AI Interview of Parkland Shooting Victim
Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta has been forced to defend his decision to host an interview with an AI avatar meant to mimic a 17-year-old victim of the 2018 Parkland school shooting. Acosta, who left CNN earlier this year to start The Jim Acosta Show, posted the video with the AI avatar to his Substack on Monday. It shows him conversing with an avatar representing Joaquin 'Guac' Oliver, who was one of the 17 victims of the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. The independent journalist referred to the AI avatar as his 'first guest' on the hour-long show, and said that Oliver's parents created an 'AI version' of their son in order to deliver a 'powerful message on gun violence.' During the five-minute conversation between Acosta and the AI version of Joaquin—which spoke in a somewhat monotone voice that jumped multiple octaves at times—the two discussed Joaquin's death, solutions to gun violence, and Joaquin's hobbies while he was alive. The facsimile of Joaquin seemed to be responding in real time to Acosta's questions. 'I was taken too soon due to gun violence at school,' AI Joaquin said after Acosta asked it 'Can you explain what happened to you?' 'It's important to talk about these issues so that we can create a safer future for everyone.' At another point in the exchange, the AI avatar said, 'I'm all about love, laughter, and living life to the fullest. Though my life was cut short, I want to keep inspiring others to make change.' In addition to answering questions from Acosta, the AI version of Joaquin asked multiple questions itself, inquiring as to Acosta's favorite basketball team and his favorite moment from the Star Wars movies. As they spoke, the AI avatar resembled a human speaking, and the model generating it seemed to spontaneously generate imagery corresponding to the current topic of conversation. After the conversation with the AI avatar ended, Manuel Oliver joined the show to discuss the AI model of his son and its potential future. Acosta told Oliver it was 'inspiring' to 'finally' speak to one of the children involved in a school shooting. 'We've heard from the parents. We've heard from the politicians. Now we're hearing from the kids, which is so important.' Several of the Parkland survivors, including David Hogg and X Gonzalez, went on to found the organization March for Our Lives, which held nationwide protests against gun violence in 2018 and 2022. Notably, Hogg appeared on CNN several times while Acosta was a reporter at the network. Oliver, whom Acosta referred to as a 'good friend,' said that the avatar was 'just the beginning' of what AI could do to represent his late son. 'Joaquin is going to start having followers. He's going to start uploading videos. It's just the beginning,' Oliver said. Oliver told Acosta that he has no illusions about the AI avatar actually being his late son. 'I don't want anyone to think in any way I'm trying to bring my son back. Sadly, I can't. I wish I could.' Joaquin's father told the Daily Beast that a New York-based AI company produced the avatar, and that the interview with Acosta was 'the first ever interview with a victim of gun violence that's not here.' To make the avatar, Oliver provided the company with written materials Joaquin produced before he died, including fictional stories he wrote. Oliver said that he understands why some parents would be hesitant to use the technology, however, he thinks the AI avatar of Joaquin could help bolster advocacy for gun reform. On a deeper level, Oliver said that he savors his own interactions with the avatar. 'As a father, just to be able to hear my son's voice, that's worth it, no matter the criticism,' Oliver said. Still, some critics found the AI-fueled interaction disturbing and disrespectful. Ryan Saavedra, a reporter for the conservative outlet The Daily Wire, hammered Acosta on X for using an 'AI chat bot' to 'push partisan politics.' On the left-leaning social media platform Bluesky, more than 3000 users responded to Acosta's post announcing the episode—many of them critical of the episode. In a comment that received more than 300 likes, one user lambasted Acosta as 'an actual opportunistic ghoul.' Another user, who received 900 likes, addressed Acosta directly and wrote, 'You're interviewing ChatGPT, not Joaquin Oliver. Don't p— on my leg and tell me it's raining." The backlash was sufficiently strong that Acosta posted a video on his Bluesky account of Manuel Oliver defending the creation of the AI avatar and its use on the show. 'His son would be 25 today,' Acosta wrote in the caption accompanying the video, referring to Joaquin's birthday of August 4. 'If the problem you have is with the AI, then you have the wrong problem,' Manuel Oliver said in the video. In recent years, Oliver has become an outspoken advocate for gun reform and founded the organization Change the Ref. 'The real problem is that my son was shot 8 years ago.' Acosta defended his choice to do the AI interview to The Independent and reiterated that Joaquin's family reached out to him to arrange it. 'My heart goes out to them and I was honored to help them in this moment.'
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump moves Obama's White House portrait to display painting of his own assassination attempt
Visitors to the White House on Friday were greeted with a new addition to the executive mansion's art collection — a painting depicting the now-iconic photograph of President Donald Trump raising his fist just moments after a bullet grazed his ear in Butler, Pennsylvania last June. White House staff installed the painting just outside the East Room, in the main foyer of the White House, at a location traditionally reserved for a painting depicting the most recent president to have his official portrait unveiled. Because neither Trump nor his predecessor-turned-successor Joe Biden have commissioned official portraits much less had them completed and unveiled for public view, that spot had until today been filled by a painting of the 44th president, Barack Obama by artist Robert McCurdy. Though McCurdy completed the artwork in 2018, it was not unveiled until September 2022, when both former president Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama returned to the White House to see both of their official portraits added to the White House collection. A post on X (formerly Twitter) from the White House's official account announced the change, leading some users on the platform to suggest that the Trump administration was doing away with the portrait of Obama. One prominent pro-Biden activist on the platform, Chris Jackson, accused the Trump White House of exhibiting what he described as 'straight-up tin pot dictator energy' and having 'taken down' Obama's portrait. But The Independent has learned that such accusations are completely unfounded. A White House official explained that the portrait of the 46th president had been relocated across the foyer to the spot where the painting of Obama's predecessor, George W Bush, had hung since it was unveiled in 2012. The official said the portrait of the 43rd president, a 2011 work by artist John Howard Sanden, was being relocated to a spot on the State Floor of the White House next to the 1994 portrait of Bush's father, 41st president George HW Bush. According to the official, the reproduction of Vucci's iconic photograph of a bloodied Trump raising his fist against a backdrop of a hanging American flag was painted by Marc Lipp, a Florida-based artist who is also known for producing painted bronze sculptures of dogs. The official also stated that the painting was gifted to Trump by Andrew Pollack, a GOP activist from the Sunshine State whose daughter was killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The choice to display a painting based on the Associated Press photo by Vucci — the wire service's chief photographer — comes at a time when the White House is engaging in a court battle for the right to ban him and his colleagues from the Oval Office and Air Force One in retaliation for the service refusing to refer to the body of water between Mexico and Florida as the 'Gulf of America.' Neither the White House nor Mr. Lipp's gallery representatives immediately responded to a query on whether Mr. Lipp had properly licensed the copyrighted photograph from the AP. If he did not receive permission to reproduce the photograph, the artist could potentially be liable for copyright infringement. The AP has taken artists to court to enforce copyrights before. In 2011, the wire service and street artist Shepard Fairey settled a long-running dispute over Fairey's iconic 'Hope' campaign poster image of Obama. The poster was based on an image of Obama taken by an AP photographer in 2008. According to the New York Times, the settlement included an agreement for Fairey and the AP to share the rights to the iconic poster and to financial terms that remain confidential.
The Independent
11-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump moves Obama's White House portrait to display painting of his own assassination attempt
Visitors to the White House on Friday were greeted with a new addition to the executive mansion's art collection — a painting depicting the now-iconic photograph of President Donald Trump raising his fist just moments after a bullet grazed his ear in Butler, Pennsylvania last June. White House staff installed the painting just outside the East Room, in the main foyer of the White House, at a location traditionally reserved for a painting depicting the most recent president to have his official portrait unveiled. Because neither Trump nor his predecessor-turned-successor Joe Biden have commissioned official portraits much less had them completed and unveiled for public view, that spot had until today been filled by a painting of the 44th president, Barack Obama by artist Robert McCurdy. Though McCurdy completed the artwork in 2018, it was not unveiled until September 2022, when both former president Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama returned to the White House to see both of their official portraits added to the White House collection. A post on X (formerly Twitter) from the White House's official account announced the change, leading some users on the platform to suggest that the Trump administration was doing away with the portrait of Obama. One prominent pro-Biden activist on the platform, Chris Jackson, accused the Trump White House of exhibiting what he described as 'straight-up tin pot dictator energy' and having 'taken down' Obama's portrait. But The Independent has learned that such accusations are completely unfounded. A White House official explained that the portrait of the 46th president had been relocated across the foyer to the spot where the painting of Obama's predecessor, George W Bush, had hung since it was unveiled in 2012. The official said the portrait of the 43rd president, a 2011 work by artist John Howard Sanden, was being relocated to a spot on the State Floor of the White House next to the 1994 portrait of Bush's father, 41st president George HW Bush. According to the official, the reproduction of Vucci's iconic photograph of a bloodied Trump raising his fist against a backdrop of a hanging American flag was painted by Marc Lipp, a Florida-based artist who is also known for producing painted bronze sculptures of dogs. The official also stated that the painting was gifted to Trump by Andrew Pollack, a GOP activist from the Sunshine State whose daughter was killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The choice to display a painting based on the Associated Press photo by Vucci — the wire service's chief photographer — comes at a time when the White House is engaging in a court battle for the right to ban him and his colleagues from the Oval Office and Air Force One in retaliation for the service refusing to refer to the body of water between Mexico and Florida as the 'Gulf of America.' Neither the White House nor Mr. Lipp's gallery representatives immediately responded to a query on whether Mr. Lipp had properly licensed the copyrighted photograph from the AP. If he did not receive permission to reproduce the photograph, the artist could potentially be liable for copyright infringement. The AP has taken artists to court to enforce copyrights before. In 2011, the wire service and street artist Shepard Fairey settled a long-running dispute over Fairey's iconic 'Hope' campaign poster image of Obama. The poster was based on an image of Obama taken by an AP photographer in 2008. According to the New York Time s, the settlement included an agreement for Fairey and the AP to share the rights to the iconic poster and to financial terms that remain confidential.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Pulse survivors and families can visit nightclub this summer, Orlando says
Survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting and families of victims will be able to step inside the club ahead of its eventual demolition, a city spokesperson said Tuesday. Such a visit was requested by some of the families since the city gained control over the building in Oct. 2023, and is now being planned for the week of June 9, the same week as the annual Pulse Remembrance Ceremony. The city posted a form on its website for those families and survivors interested in visiting the building to sign up for more information. 'The city is currently in the planning phase of the visit, however we can share that victims families and survivors will have the chance to visit inside the building,' said Ashley Papagni, a city spokesperson. 'This will be a private visit for the families and survivors who feel it is important for their mental health and continued healing to visit the interior of the building.' This is expected to be the only chance to enter the building before construction of the memorial — which will require demolition of most and perhaps all of the club — begins. Questions of visiting and preserving the sites of mass killings are often fraught with emotion for those involved. Families and survivors toured the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland after the shooting there, but it was finally torn down last year. The planned visit was first reported by WESH-2. In February, Orlando OK'd the design for a permanent memorial to the Pulse shooting which killed 49 and wounded 53 on June 12, 2016. The final design includes a reflection pool where the club's dance floor is now, but still unanswered is whether any portion of the nightclub building would be used in the eventual structure. The building's fate was heavily debated over the course of several meetings of the Pulse Memorial Advisory Committee, which included families and survivors. Members generally agreed that it made little sense to retain the structure, and discussed whether to save one of the nightclub walls or replace it with an obelisk. But they made no decision on that issue. Mayor Buddy Dyer has said he intends to have the memorial built before he leaves office at the end of 2027, and expects the memorial to cost about $12 million. rygillespie@
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Friday marks the 7th anniversary of the Parkland school shooting
FLORIDA (WMBB) – Friday marks the 7th anniversary of the tragic Parkland school shooting. A former student named Nikolas Cruz walked into Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle. He killed 15 students and 2 staff members. It was the deadliest U.S. school shooting since the Sandy Hook Elementary School attack in Connecticut about 5-years earlier. Cruz pled guilty to murder in October 2021 and is now serving life in prison without the possibility of parole. As a result of the shooting, the Florida legislature passed some of the nation's toughest restrictions for buying firearms. But the current state legislature is considering bills that would weaken those restrictions. Nationally, Democrats worry the Trump administration is rolling back policies to fight gun violence. The white house says they're taking steps to protect Second Amendment rights, but also combat gun crime. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
