Robin Williams' Daughter Zelda Slams 'Disturbing' AI Videos of Her Dad
Robin Williams' daughter Zelda is not a fan of the AI creations of her late father.
The 34-year-old—who followed in her dad's footsteps by entering show business and working as an actress, producer, director, and writer—took to social media to air her grievances on the matter, calling the faux audio bites made with artificial intelligence "personally disturbing."
"I am not an impartial voice in SAG's fight against AI," Williams wrote via Instagram Stories on Sunday, Oct. 1. "I've witnessed for YEARS how many people want to train these models to create/recreate actors who cannot consent, like Dad. This isn't theoretical, it is very very real."
The legendary actor and comedian died by suicide on Aug. 11, 2014, at the age of 63.
AI is a hot-button issue in the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes, as the organization emphasized the need to protect "human-created work" including alterations to the “voice, likeness or performance” of an actor, according to a Fortune report explaining the problem with using (and abusing, in the opinion of some) the technology.
Williams' brief yet impassioned note continued: "I've already heard AI used to get his 'voice' to say whatever people want and while I find it personally disturbing, the ramifications go far beyond my own feelings. Living actors deserve a chance to create characters with their choices, to voice cartoons, to put their HUMAN effort and time into the pursuit of performance."
The topic obviously struck a chord with the Lisa Frankenstein director, who rarely even uses her Instagram account at all. As of writing, Williams only has one uploaded photo on the sharing platform visible on her profile from Sept. 2022.
"These recreations are, at their very best, a poor facsimile of greater people," Williams concluded, adding, "but at their worst, a horrendous Frankensteinian monster, cobbled together from the worst bits of everything this industry is, instead of what it should stand for."
Elsewhere in Hollywood, a few heavy-hitters have spoken out against similar usage of AI. Filmmaker Tim Burton compared the technology's recreations to "a robot taking your humanity; your soul," and in support of the actors' strike, High Fidelity star John Cusack called AI a "criminal enterprise."
Just over the weekend, on Saturday, Sept. 30, Tom Hanks issued a public warning concerning an AI video of himself promoting a dental plan.
Next: Tom Hanks Issues Bizarre Warning About Video Circulating Online
