Zelda Williams has officially had enough of people using artificial intelligence to resurrect her father, the late and legendary Robin Williams. The 36-year-old actor and director took to Instagram to tell fans and trolls to stop sending her AI-generated videos of her dad. And she didn’t mince words.
“Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad,” she wrote. “Stop believing I wanna see it or that I’ll understand, I don’t and I won’t. If you’re just trying to troll me, I’ve seen way worse, I’ll restrict and move on. But please, if you’ve got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop.”
It’s not hard to see why Zelda’s frustrated. Since Robin’s passing in August 2014 at the age of 63, social media has been flooded with clips, “deepfakes,” and other digital attempts to recreate his voice and face. Most are made by people claiming to be paying tribute. But as Zelda points out, what they’re really doing is puppeteering a man who can no longer consent.
“To watch the legacies of real people be condensed down to ‘this vaguely looks and sounds like them so that’s enough,’ just so other people can churn out horrible TikTok slop puppeteering them is maddening,” she continued. “You’re not making art, you’re making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings.”
That’s one of the more polite ways she’s ever described it. Zelda’s been calling out this trend for years. During the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, when AI was listed as a major issue for negotiation, she made it clear that she finds these digital recreations “personally disturbing.” “I’ve witnessed for YEARS how many people want to train these models to create/recreate actors who cannot consent, like Dad,” she wrote then. “This isn’t theoretical, it is very very real.”
Robin Williams himself was famously protective of how his image was used. He refused to let Disney use the Genie from Aladdin for promotional material back in the ’90s. So the idea of someone running his likeness through a neural network for TikTok clout would’ve likely driven him up the wall.
Reddit users were quick to rally behind Zelda, with one commenter writing, “Robin Williams didn’t even want Disney using Genie for advertising. He DEFINITELY doesn’t want his likeness puppeted like this.” Another added, “That hits hard. Perfect summary of AI content.”
And it’s not just Zelda making noise. Hollywood’s been wrestling with the same issue since the introduction of AI “actors” like Tilly Norwood, a digital creation made by Particle6 Studios. SAG-AFTRA later slammed the move, reminding everyone that “creativity is, and should remain, human-centered.”
Zelda’s latest message feels less like a celebrity rant and more like a plea for common sense. She’s not just protecting her father’s memory. She’s actually standing up for every performer whose voice and likeness are being scraped into data sets without permission.
So if you’re tempted to send her another AI “tribute,” maybe don’t. As Zelda Williams said best: “It’s dumb, it’s a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it’s NOT what he’d want.”
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