Robin Williams’ Daughter Urges Fans to Stop Sending Her AI Videos of Her Father: “It’s Gross and Not What He’d Want”
Zelda Williams, daughter of the late comedy legend Robin Williams and director of the romantic comedy Lisa Frankenstein, recently used her Instagram Stories to address a growing issue: people constantly sending her AI-generated videos of her dad.
“Please, stop sending me AI videos of Dad,” she wrote. “Quit assuming I want to see them or that I’d somehow ‘get it.’ I don’t, and I won’t. If you’re trying to mess with me, I’ve dealt with far worse — I’ll just block and move on. But honestly, if you have even a shred of respect, stop doing this to him, to me, to everyone. It’s pointless, a total waste of time and energy — and most importantly, it’s not what he would’ve wanted.”
She went on to express her anger at how AI tools flatten the depth of real human legacies into cheap digital mimicry. “Watching real people’s legacies be boiled down to ‘well, it kind of looks and sounds like them, so that’s good enough,’ just so others can crank out awful TikTok puppet shows, is infuriating,” Zelda continued. “That’s not art — that’s turning the lives of actual people and the history of music and art into over-processed, soulless hotdogs, then forcing them down people’s throats hoping for a few likes. It’s disgusting.”
Zelda didn’t hold back in her conclusion either: “And for the love of everything, stop calling this ‘the future.’ AI isn’t creating anything new — it’s just spitting out chewed-up versions of the past for people to consume again. You’re essentially eating content from the tail end of a human centipede, while those at the front laugh and gorge themselves.”
This isn’t the first time Zelda has spoken out about AI recreations of her father. Back in 2023, when SAG-AFTRA named AI-generated likenesses as a key issue during its strike negotiations, she publicly criticized the use of her dad’s voice and image through AI tools, calling it “deeply unsettling.”
“I’m not a neutral voice in the fight against AI,” she said at the time. “For years, I’ve seen people eager to train models to digitally resurrect actors who can’t give consent — including my dad. This isn’t hypothetical; it’s already happening.”
She added, “I’ve heard AI recreations of his voice used to say whatever people want, and while I find that personally disturbing, the implications are far bigger than my own feelings. Living performers deserve the chance to create their own characters, voice their own roles, and bring their human talent to the craft. These AI replicas, at best, are flimsy imitations of remarkable individuals. At worst, they’re grotesque Frankenstein creations stitched together from the industry’s worst impulses — not what it should stand for.”