Robin Williams’ daughter criticises AI recreations of her father
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Robin Williams in a photo from 2008
| Photo Credit: MARK J. TERRILL
Hollywood icon Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda Williams has criticised efforts to replicate her father using artificial intelligence, calling these recreations “Frankensteinian monster” that is personally disturbing.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Zelda, 34, shared a post on her Instagram Stories over the weekend criticising non-consensual AI replications of her late father.
“These recreations are, at their very best, a poor facsimile of greater people… 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,” Zelda wrote.
Oscar-winner Robin Williams, known for his work in films such as Good Will Hunting, Mrs Doubtfire, Dead Poets Society and Awakenings, died in 2014.
The use of AI to replicate performers’ voices or likenesses is also an issue being raised as part of the SAG-AFTRA strike. “I am not an impartial voice in SAG’s fight against AI. 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,” Zelda said.
“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 actor-director added.
On Saturday, Tom Hanks also dealt with issues related to AI as took to Instagram to warn his fans about an AI version of himself being used for a “dental plan advertisement”. The actor shared a screenshot of the computer-generated image of him being used for the advertisement without his consent.
Hanks previously spoke about the growing use of AI in the creative field during an appearance on ‘Adam Buxton Podcast’ in May, in which he said that “this has always been lingering.”