Zelda Williams Is Over The AI Videos of Her Dad
Zelda Williams went off on Instagram Monday, and you know what? Good for her.
People won't stop sending her AI-generated videos of her dead father, Robin Williams. They must think she's sitting around waiting for some algorithm to spit out a new fake Robin Williams video so she can have a good cry or something. Well guess what? She's not. She hates it.
"Stop believing I wanna see it or that I'll understand, I don't and I won't," she wrote. She even added that she's seen "way worse" versions, which—if that’s the case, what is wrong with people?
Over A Decade Of This
Her dad died in 2014. It's been over a decade, and strangers still think they have some right to his face, his voice, his entire existence. They feed it all into some AI program and hit generate like they're doing something meaningful. They're not.
"If you've got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop," Williams wrote. "It's dumb, it's a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it's NOT what he'd want."
And she really let loose in another post. Said people trying to "condense down" real people's legacies to make TikTok content is maddening. Called the whole thing "horrible TikTok slop." Which, yeah. That's exactly what it is.
"You're not making art, you're making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings," she wrote. Then she brought up The Human Centipede to describe how AI content works—people at the end of the chain eating recycled trash while tech bros at the front laugh all the way to the bank.
Sure, it's a disgusting comparison. But it's also kind of perfect.
This has been going on for years. Back in 2023 when SAG-AFTRA was fighting over AI protections, Zelda spoke up about how people had already been training models on her father. She'd heard AI versions of Robin Williams saying whatever someone programmed him to say. Obviously she found the whole thing disturbing, which seems like the only sane response.
"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."
She wasn't just talking about her dad either. Living actors are dealing with this now too. SAG-AFTRA pushed back last week against some production company that created an entirely AI actress named Tilly Norwood. The union said creativity should stay human-centered. Revolutionary concept, apparently.
It’s Not Really AI—It’s People
But Zelda's been fighting different versions of this forever. In 2021, actor Jamie Costa posted a video doing a Robin Williams impression—specifically the moment he found out John Belushi died. The video blew up. Millions of views. People started campaigning for Costa to play Robin in a biopic.
Zelda had to get on Twitter and tell people to stop flooding her feed with it. "Y'all spamming me an impression of my late Dad on one of his saddest days is weird."
There's this thing people do where they assume she'll appreciate these recreations. Like it's a gift or tribute. It's not. It's invasive and creepy and she's said so multiple times now.
In this week's posts, she took a swing at people calling AI "the future." Sure, in some ways it is, but in this case, she says it's just badly recycling the past and calling it progress.
It’s like Re-Opening A Wound
When Robin Williams died at 63, Zelda wrote about how she'd never understand how someone so deeply loved couldn't find it in himself to stay. She found some small comfort knowing millions of others shared the grief, even though it didn't make the pain any easier.
She was 25 then. Now she's 36 and still dealing with people who think her father's likeness is fair game for content.
The technology's only getting better, easier to use, and more convincing. Which means this problem isn't going away. If anything, it's going to get worse.
But at least Zelda's not being polite about it anymore. And she shouldn't have to be. It's been eleven years. Her dad is gone and people need to let him rest.