The daughter of the late Robin Williams has publicly condemned the use of artificial intelligence to simulate her father’s voice, calling the technology a” horrendous Frankensteinian monster.”
Zelda Williams took a stand against AI in a recent Instagram Story post.
“I am not an impartial voice in SAG’s fight against AI,” she wrote, referring to the screen actors union. “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.”
Sharing this from @zeldawilliams, whose drive to protect her dad’s legacy may seem unique because of his singular genius, but ultimately will be familiar to all artists. To me this is the #1 reason to get out and support SAG on the picket lines even though our deal is done. pic.twitter.com/zNXgBlOoEV
— carina adly mackenzie (@cadlymack) October 1, 2023
She 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.”
Actors who are still alive “deserve a chance to create characters with their choices, to voice cartoons, to put their HUMAN effort and time into the pursuit of performance,” she wrote.
In her post, Zelda Williams called AI simulacrum of actors “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.”
Her warning about AI follows similar condemnations from Hollywood figures, including James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, and Tim Burton.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at
