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Zelda Williams, the daughter of the late Robin Williams, has criticized the use of artificial intelligence to reproduce her father's voice, calling it "disturbing." As per sources like the New York Post, after learning that AI was used to reconstruct Robin Williams' voice nearly ten years after his passing, the 34-year-old actor, writer, and director voiced her opinion regarding the practice on her Instagram stories on October 1, 2023.
Regarding how AI was utilized to reproduce her late father's voice, she wrote:
“I am not an impartial voice in SAG's fight against AI...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.”
Trigger warning: Mentions of suicide
Robin Williams' daughter, Zelda, deemed AI “a horrendous Frankensteinian monster”
Robin Williams died by suicide in August 2014 after a long struggle with depression. Prior to his death, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. However, as per Vanity Fair, an autopsy later revealed that Williams suffered from Lewy Body Dementia, a condition that comes with an increased risk of suicide.
The actor from Dead Poets Society is survived by his wife Susan Schneider, and his children Zachary, Zelda, and Cody Williams. While Zachary is the son from his first wife, Valerie Velardi, Zelda and Cody are the children from his second marriage to Marsha Garces.
Zelda recently expressed her opposition regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in recreating "actors who cannot consent," alleging that she had witnessed its use for years to imitate the voice of her late father, Robin Williams.
During the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, Zelda spoke up against the employment of artificial intelligence to replicate other actors and their voices.
In a post on Instagram, she wrote:
“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.”
She further emphasized:
“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. These recreations are, at their very best, are a poor facsimile of greater people, but at worst, a horrendous Frankenstinian monster, cobbled together from the worst bits of everything that this industry is..."
Zelda's claims also fall in line with other actors, most notably Tom Hanks, who have also raised his voice against the use of AI.
About the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike
The Writer's Guild of America went on strike in July 2023 over several issues, including the use of AI to write scripts. However, the strike finally came to an end on September 27, after a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, ending one of the longest labor disputes in Hollywood history.
Although the employment of AI tools in the writing process is not expressly forbidden under the writers' contract, it does establish safeguards to ensure that the new technology remains under the authority of the employees and is not utilized by their employers to replace them.
