'Personally disturbing': Robin Williams' daughter Zelda slams AI techniques that replicate late dad
Zelda Williams, the daughter of Robin Williams, is actively campaigning in Hollywood against artificial intelligence
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Zelda Williams, the daughter of Robin Williams, is actively campaigning in Hollywood against artificial intelligence.
The 34-year-old actress and director posted a message on her Instagram Stories on Sunday criticizing nonconsensual AI replications of her late father, a contentious issue at the heart of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, and urging people to safeguard actors' likenesses.
Zelda Williams is part of SAG's fight against AI
Zelda began by saying, "I am not an impartial voice in SAG's fight against AI." She continued by claiming that she has "witnessed for YEARS how many people want to train these models to create/recreate actors who cannot consent, like dad," according to screenshots obtained by Entertainment Weekly.
Robin Williams, a well-known actor-comedian and Oscar winner for 'Good Will Hunting', died in 2014.
Zelda Williams finds 'AI personally disturbing'
She continued, “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 added, “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, 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 claimed.
The use of AI to replicate performers' voices or likenesses, as well as the use of performers’ voices or likenesses to train AI to create new content, is a “mandatory subject of bargaining” for SAG-AFTRA, according to an official letter penned by Jeffrey Bennett, general counsel for the labor union, as reported by People.
Tom Hanks' brush with artificial intelligence
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Tom Hanks faced the effects of artificial intelligence (AI) firsthand on Saturday, confirming on social media that an AI version of him that was going around online is not, in fact, him.
On Instagram, the 67-year-old actor posted a message alerting his followers to a dental plan advertisement that featured a computer-generated image of him.
He wrote, “BEWARE!! There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it.”
