Zelda Williams urges people to stop sending AI-generated videos of deceased father Robin Williams
Zelda Williams publicly urged people to stop creating and sharing AI-generated deepfake videos of her deceased father, actor Robin Williams, stating they were disrespectful to his legacy and that she was distressed by receiving them. She criticized the practice as exploitative commercial misuse rather than artistic creation.
What happened
Zelda Williams, daughter of actor Robin Williams, posted on Instagram in October 2025 urging people to stop sending her AI-generated videos of her deceased father, who died in 2014.
She stated that these deepfake videos portrayed her father 'looking and sounding a bit like him' and were being used to create content on platforms like TikTok that she described as 'disgusting' and 'disturbing'.
Reported impact
Zelda Williams said she found the AI recreations deeply disrespectful to her father's legacy and memory, describing being forced to witness her father's image reduced to a synthetic approximation.
She expressed concern that these deepfakes were not respectful to her father or to society generally, and that they constituted unwanted harassment of her and her family.
Index analysis
The AI videos used her father's likeness and voice without consent, recreating his image after his death for entertainment purposes on social media platforms.
Zelda Williams criticized the practice as not constituting artistic creation but rather the exploitation of deceased persons' likenesses and cultural legacies for commercial engagement and likes.
Governance controls
Zelda Williams has previously publicly criticized AI-generated deepfakes, including statements made during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike in which she raised concerns about actors' likenesses being used without consent.
She advocated for stopping the creation and distribution of these synthetic media without the consent of deceased individuals or their families.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.