Welcome to Just Outside DC — the only newsletter with more sauce than your mom’s spaghetti (he’s nervous) 🍝 

THE BIG IDEA

Artificial intelligence gives Virginia’s Jennifer Wexton her voice back.

Imagine losing your ability to speak. 

Now imagine getting your voice back, but it's AI-generated.

That's exactly what happened to Virginia representative Jennifer Wexton, who recently unveiled her new AI voice to address Congress.

Why the need for an AI voice?

Wexton has been battling progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a Parkinson's-like condition that's robbed her of her natural speaking voice. But thanks to this AI-powered tech, she's found a way to keep communicating.

So, how does this tech wizardry work?

1. Voice harvesting: Staffers compiled over an hour of Wexton's pre-PSP speech recordings.

2. AI magic: Well-known AI speech platform ElevenLabs was used to turn these audio samples into a digital replica voice.

3. Text-to-speech: Wexton types her thoughts, and the AI voice speaks them aloud.

The result? A voice that's quite similar to Wexton's original tone, cadence, and timbre.

Wexton also acknowledged the potential dangers of AI voice technology like misusing it for political manipulation or fraud.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go record some voice samples.

You know, just in case.

Bulletin Board 📌 

Reader Restaurant Recommendation: One of our readers, Ben, recommends you guys check out Roaming Rooster — a staple of the DMV’s comfort food offerings.

They started with a humble truck in DC and now have locations in all three letters.

Ben’s go-to is a mild honey-butter sandwich (with two thick chicken breasts), a generous bag of hand-cut twice-fried fries, and a custard Oreo shake.

QUICK HITS

• Ashburn’s Mo Zahid might be on his way to the WWE after his time playing football at William & Mary 🤼‍♂️ 

• The Washington Post has launched a new AI-powered chatbot that can answer questions about climate 🤖 

• Dan Snyder is asking for $60M for his humongous Alexandria mansion 🏠️ 

• Check out this old-school jingle used to advertise for Tysons Corner’s mall back in the day 🎵 

• These 5 NoVA athletes and coaches talk about their upcoming trip to Paris to compete for Olympic gold 🇫🇷 

LIVE EVENT LOWDOWN

• 18th Century Tavern Life | a weekend exploration of colonial entertainment and culture 🍺 

• Purcellville Wine and Food Festival | the annual event is back this weekend in the heart of DC’s wine country 🍷 

• 30th Anniversary of Illmatic | Nas is performing with the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap on Sunday 🎻 

• Movies on the Potomac | there’s going to be a free outdoor screening of Wonka (2023) at National Harbor  🎩 

• Chillin’ on Church | the hottest block party in Vienna is back. This free family-friendly event has local beer and wine, food vendors, and live music 🥳 

• Fast Eddie & The Slowpokes are performing on Saturday at The Workhouse in Lorton 🎸 

• Neverland Tea Party | ARTfactory is hosting a Peter Pan themed tea party with catered finger foods, characters from the story, and more 🫖 

Thanks so much for reading today’s issue of Just Outside D.C.

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