Zelda Williams, daughter of the beloved actor and comedian Robin Williams, has issued a heartfelt plea for people to stop sending her AI-generated videos of her late father. In a series of Instagram stories, she expressed her distress over the digital recreations, stating they are not only personally hurtful but also disrespectful to his memory and legacy.
Williams directly addressed her followers, writing, “Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad. Stop believing I wanna see it or that I’ll understand, I don’t and I won’t.” She warned that she would restrict accounts attempting to troll her but appealed to decency, asking everyone to cease this behavior entirely. She emphasized that it is a waste of time and energy and firmly believes it is not what her father would have wanted.
This is not the first time Zelda has spoken out against AI impersonations of Robin Williams. In 2023, during the SAG-AFTRA strikes, she described similar attempts as “personally disturbing” and highlighted the wider ethical concerns. Robin Williams died by suicide in 2014 at age 63, and it was later revealed he had Lewy body dementia, a condition his wife linked to his depression.
The issue resonates with broader tensions in Hollywood regarding artificial intelligence. Recently, the introduction of “AI actress” Tilly Norwood by Dutch creator Eline Van der Velden sparked outrage among actors and unions. SAG-AFTRA condemned such synthetic performers, stating they lack human experience and emotion, and audiences are not interested in computer-generated content detached from reality.
Actress Emily Blunt and others have voiced fears about AI replacing human actors, with Blunt calling the concept “really, really scary” and urging agencies to stop undermining human connection. Unions like Equity in the UK and ACTRA in Canada have echoed concerns, noting that AI models are built from performers’ work without consent, raising copyright and ethical issues.
Technological advancements have fueled this debate, with OpenAI’s release of Sora 2, a text-to-video AI model, enabling more realistic and controllable video generation. However, it has led to a surge in fake content, including unauthorized uses of copyrighted characters, prompting legal actions from companies like Disney and Nintendo. OpenAI has pledged to give copyright holders more control, but the Wild West of generative AI continues to challenge norms.
Zelda Williams criticized the notion that AI is the future, calling it a “badly recycling and regurgitating the past.” She compared the process to creating “disgusting, over-processed hotdogs” out of human lives and art history, driven by a desire for social media validation. Her comments underscore the emotional toll on families and the need for ethical guidelines in AI development.
As the entertainment industry grapples with AI’s role, Williams’ outcry highlights the personal and artistic violations involved. It calls for a collective effort to protect legacies and ensure that technology enhances rather than exploits human creativity, respecting the wishes of those no longer here to speak for themselves.