Zelda Williams, the daughter of the late Robin Williams, has shared an emotional plea directed at her father's admirers.
“Please, stop sending me AI-generated videos of my dad. Don’t assume I want to see them or that I’ll ever be okay with it. I don’t, and I never will,” she posted on her Instagram story on Monday. “If you have any respect, please stop doing this to him, to me, and to everyone else. It’s pointless, it’s a waste of everyone’s time and energy, and trust me, this is the last thing he would have wanted.”
Williams’ statement comes shortly after the launch of OpenAI’s Sora 2 video model and the Sora social platform, which allow users to create highly convincing deepfakes of themselves, their acquaintances, and even animated characters.
This also extends to individuals who have passed away, as there are generally no legal barriers to creating deepfakes of the deceased, according to the Student Press Law Center.
Sora restricts users from making videos of living people—unless it’s themselves or someone who has given explicit permission (referred to as a “cameo” by OpenAI). However, these restrictions don’t apply to those who have died, making it relatively easy to generate their likenesses. The invite-only app has already seen a surge of videos featuring historical icons like Martin Luther King, Jr., Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Richard Nixon, as well as late celebrities such as Bob Ross, John Lennon, Alex Trebek, and, notably, Robin Williams.
There’s little clarity on how OpenAI determines which deceased individuals can be depicted. For instance, Sora 2 won’t create videos of former President Jimmy Carter, who died in 2024, or Michael Jackson, who passed in 2009, but it has produced content featuring Robin Williams, who died in 2014, according to TechCrunch’s findings. While OpenAI’s cameo function lets living people set preferences for their digital likeness in generated videos—a safeguard introduced after early backlash—those who have died have no such control. One can only imagine how Richard Nixon would react if he saw a deepfake of himself advocating for police abolition.
Deepfake videos featuring Richard Nixon, John Lennon, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robin Williams
Image Credits:Sora, screenshots by TechCrunch
OpenAI did not reply to TechCrunch’s inquiry about whether it permits deepfakes of deceased individuals. Still, it appears that creating AI versions of late celebrities like Williams may fall within the company’s guidelines; legal experts note that the law generally does not hold companies liable for defaming the dead.
“It’s infuriating to see the legacies of real people reduced to ‘this sort of looks and sounds like them, so that’s good enough,’ just so others can produce awful TikTok content using their likeness,” Williams expressed.
Critics of OpenAI argue that the company is too lax when it comes to these matters, which is why Sora was quickly inundated with AI-generated clips of copyrighted characters like Peter Griffin and Pikachu after its debut. Initially, CEO Sam Altman stated that Hollywood studios and agencies would need to opt out if they didn’t want their intellectual property used in Sora videos. The Motion Picture Association has already urged OpenAI to address this, emphasizing in a statement that “well-established copyright law protects creators’ rights and is applicable here.” Altman has since indicated the company will change this policy.
Sora may be the most advanced deepfake-capable AI tool available to the public so far, given the realism of its creations. Other services, such as xAI, are less sophisticated but have even fewer restrictions, allowing for the creation of explicit deepfakes of real people. As more companies catch up to OpenAI, treating real individuals—living or dead—as mere digital playthings could set a disturbing precedent.
