Rep. Jennifer Wexton speaks on House floor using AI technology : NPR

Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., was diagnosed with a degenerative neurological disorder last year that has inhibited her mobility and hampered her voice. On July, 25 she debuted the use of an AI tool built to mirror her own voice in a speech on the House floor.

House Television/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

House Television/AP

When Rep. Jennifer Wexton gave remarks on the House floor Thursday, she spoke using a voice that she and her colleagues thought they’d never hear again.

After a rare neurological disorder affected her ability to speak, the Virginia Democrat now enlists artificial intelligence to speak using her old voice.

“I can no longer give the same kind of impassioned impromptu speeches during debates on the floor or in committee hearings,” Wexton said using assistive technology. “This very impressive AI recreation of my voice does the public speaking for me now.”

Wexton flipped her Virginia seat in 2018 as part of that year’s “blue wave.” In April of last year, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

“If there’s one thing that Democrats and Republicans can agree on, it’s that Parkinson’s Disease sucks,” she said in a video announcement.

Five months later, she shared a modified diagnosis: progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disease she describes as “Parkinson’s Disease on steroids.” She also announced she would not seek reelection.

In May, she began delivering remarks on the House floor using text-to speech technology.

ElevenLabs, a software company that works to create natural-sounding speech synthesis, reached out to Wexton’s office with the goal of making a voice model program that sounded like herself, and not the robotic voice associated with the traditional text-to-speech app.

“Our technology gives individuals who have lost their voice the ability to speak as they once did, with the emotion and passion they feel, and we hoped to help the Congresswoman do just that. She’s an incredible public servant,” said Sam Sklar of ElevenLabs. “Helping ensure everyone has a voice is a key focus for us and we hope Rep. Wexton’s story shows others the possibilities so they can take advantage.”

Wexton’s staff sent the company more than an hour of her past floor speeches and other public appearances. In just a few days, the company created an AI model that was essentially a clone of Wexton’s voice before her diagnosis.

“I used to be one of those people who hated the sound of my voice. When my ads came on TV, I would cringe and change the channel. But you truly don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone,” she said on the House floor Thursday morning. “Because hearing the new AI of my old voice for the first time was music to my ears. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard and I cried tears of joy.”

Wexton used her remarks to commemorate Disability Pride Month.

“My battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP, has robbed me of my ability to use my full voice and move around in the ways that I used to,” she said. “Rather than striding confidently onto the House floor to vote, I gratefully accept rides across Independence Avenue — and yes, I get the irony — from my office to the Capitol. I rely on a walker to get around, and in all likelihood, before my term ends, I will appear on the House floor for votes in a wheelchair.”

Her colleague — fellow Virginia Democrat Don Beyer — first heard Wexton’s resurrected voice about a week ago.

“To have her voice back through the AI — and not just a voice but her voice — is a really wonderful thing,” he told NPR.

Wexton’s speech Thursday was the first time a voice cloned by AI was used on the House floor — and comes as Congress itself is wrestling with how to regulate and legislate on artificial intelligence.

“We don’t like bad deepfakes, but a good deepfake – which is not really a fake [but] the ability to hear her speak, it’s just wonderful,” Beyer said.

Wexton said she has a renewed sense of determination to use her platform to help others.

“I hope I can be a voice, even an AI voice, for Americans facing accessibility challenges and other disabilities,” Wexton said. “Because too often, people only see us for that disability, and in truth, we are so much more.”