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Robin Williams’ daughter criticises AI recreation of her father’s voice

Mon 2 October 2023 9:56, UK

Zelda, the daughter of the late actor and comedian Robin Williams, has spoken out against “disturbing” AI technology recently used to recreate her father’s voice.

“I am not an impartial voice in SAG’s fight against AI,” Zelda wrote in a statement posted on Instagram Stories. “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.”

“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,” she continued.

“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 recent WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes called out the looming career risks of AI technology as one of their salient appeals. Both bodies seek protection from the risks of AI; thus far, the WGA has struck a deal with AMPTP while SAG-AFTRA awaits new negotiations next week.

“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 added in her post.

In 2001, Robin Williams appeared in Steven Spielberg’s movie AI: Artificial Intelligence as Dr. Know. Watch his scene below.