Stop Making AI Videos of Robin Williams!

Making AI-generated videos of anyone is creepy loser behaviour, but doing it with a dead man who was explicit in his desires to not be used in such a way is particularly gross. Robin Williams died in 2014, and since then, a hell of a lot of creeps have decided it’s a-okay to do “tributes” of him with deepfakes and AI, and then to send them to his children. Zelda Williams has repeatedly said that she hates this and wants people to leave her and her dad’s memory alone. Alas, she has to keep asserting this.

This week, Williams shared a brief statement on social media, calling out a new AI-generated video floating around the internet that purports to be a “private” interview of him talking about various conspiracies. It’s blatant tinhat propaganda. Zelda called it out saying that it was obviously AI-generated due to the “robotic and terrible” voice that sounded nothing like Robin. Williams, who is a filmmaker herself, addressed the creator of the video, writing, “leave him out of your delusional bullsh-t and let him rest. If you cannot make your case without making a dead man make it more convincing for you, then tell me: who’s the one manipulating the public thru media now?”

“I hate this cesspool of an app,” she added. “It’s mostly bots and people willingly being duped by bots at this point so not sure what I feel the need to come back to clarify, but I love him, so I will. Just because he’s gone does not mean he’s now your puppet. Have some shame.”

In his will, Robin Williams stipulated that his estate could not used his likeness for 25 years following his death, be it through digital recreations, holograms, or now AI. His fans know this, and it seems that many do not care, although I imagine anyone trying to appropriate a dead man to spread dog-whistle conspiracies is probably just looking for some random Hollywood figure to use for their own purposes. Still, Zelda is right in noting how cruel and shameless this all is. It’s all the more cringe-inducing because so often Robin’s likeness is used for “wholesome” social media posts. Oh, it’s Robin Williams greeting Dolly Parton in heaven. That’s not offensive in the slightest. Seriously, who is moved by this grave-robbing crap? Who thinks it’s respectful to do this, to have someone they claim to be a fan of saying and doing stuff they never would have done during their lifetimes? And Zelda has told you all countless times to knock it off, but you keep using the plagiarism machine to steal her dad’s voice anyway?!

The law is too far behind on these matters and needs to catch up. How many times have you seen an AI video in recent months that featured sexually explicit images or violence against others, particularly women? Or was just blatant misinformation masquerading as reality? It’s almost as though this was always what ChatGPT and the like were going to be used for by the masses. Well done, Sam Altman. The bar continues to fall lower and lower for you.