‘Horrible TikTok slop’: Robin Williams’ daughter slams ‘gross’ AI-generated videos of her father
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Actor Robin Williams and his daughter Zelda posing at the premiere of Old Dogs in Hollywood on Nov 9, 2009.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Ms Zelda Williams, daughter of late Hollywood veteran Robin Williams, lashed out on Oct 6 against people making and sending her videos generated by artificial intelligence (AI) of her father.
This follows a backlash from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-Aftra) in September over the recent debut of an AI-generated “actress” named Tilly Norwood
In statements on her Instagram stories, which were available for only 24 hours from when Ms Williams posted them on Oct 6, the 36-year-old actress and film director pleaded with people to stop sending her AI-generated videos of her father.
“Stop believing I want to see it or that I’ll understand, I don’t and I won’t,” she said, adding that for those trying to “troll” her, she has seen “way worse”, and that she would simply restrict their access to her account 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 dumb, it’s a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it’s NOT what he’d want,” said Ms Williams.
Her father, Oscar-winning actor and comedian Robin Williams, died by suicide in 2014 at the age of 63.
He was one of the world’s most beloved and ground-breaking comedians, starring in a plethora of classic films like Good Morning, Vietnam; Mrs Doubtfire; and Good Will Hunting, which earned him an Oscar, in his long and distinguished career.
His death sent shockwaves around the world, standing in stark contrast to the many on-screen characters he portrayed who encouraged others to tap their own inner vitality.
In her Oct 6 Instagram stories, Ms Williams said that watching the legacies of real people being condensed down to “this vaguely looks and sounds like them so that’s enough”, just for people to churn out “horrible TikTok slop”, is “maddening”.
“You’re not making art, you’re making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings, out of the history of art and music, and then shoving them down someone else’s throat hoping they’ll give you a little thumbs up and like it. Gross.”
She ended her statement calling for people to stop calling AI “the future”, describing the movement as “badly recycling and regurgitating the past to be reconsumed”.
Ms Zelda Williams lashed out on Oct 6 against people making and sending her videos of her father generated by artificial intelligence.
PHOTOS: ZELDA WILLIAMS/INSTAGRAM
Ms Williams previously criticised the use of AI in October 2023, noting that people have used the tool to recreate Mr Williams’ voice “to say whatever people want”.
This came during a 118-day strike by SAG-Aftra
Concerns about Hollywood actors and writers being exploited, and even supplanted, by AI-generated performers and scripts was a major issue at SAG-Aftra’s most recent round of contract talks with studios and streaming services.
Ms Zelda Williams previously criticised the use of AI in October 2023, noting that people have used the tool to recreate Mr Williams’ voice “to say whatever people want”.
PHOTO: ZELDA WILLIAMS/INSTAGRAM
In July, actor Matthew Lawrence, who starred alongside Mr Williams in the 1993 comedy Mrs Doubtfire, said he would “love” to revive the late actor’s voice using AI, reported pop culture website Entertainment Weekly.
“I would love – now, obviously, with the respect and with the okay from his family – but I would love to do something really special with his voice because I know for a generation, that voice is just so iconic,” he told Entertainment Weekly at the time.
“It’s not just the fact that I knew him and worked with him and so it’s in my head – it’s in everybody’s head. And it would be so cool.”
According to Entertainment Weekly, Mr Lawrence thought of the idea after watching one of Mr Williams’ old commercials where he did a “computerised voice-over”, and realised that it carried modern-day parallels.
“It’s kinda like this very contemporary, modern, almost sort of foreshadowing of what’s going on commercial that he did, where he did this computerised voice-over,” he explained.
“And it always stuck with me. And then, during his passing, with the AI coming out, I’m like, ‘Man, he’s gotta be the voice of AI. He’s gotta be the voice in something.’ So, yeah, I would love to do that.”
