The children of Robin Williams have found a very special way to keep their father’s legacy alive. Cody, Zelda, and Zak Williams have reactivated the actor and comedian’s Instagram account more than a decade after his passing. They have done so, they say, to create a space of trust for their fans, as artificial intelligence makes it increasingly easy to imitate his voice and image.
The three siblings announced the initiative in a post on Robin Williams’s account this week, coinciding with the 75th birthday of the late actor. “As we commemorate this date, we are filled with gratitude to see how new generations discover his work, while longtime followers continue to celebrate the joy he brought to their lives,” they wrote on the Instagram wall to his 523,000 followers.
Their intention is that the account be used from now on to share memories and authentic material from the life and career of Robin Williams. All while preserving the spirit of his work in a digital world increasingly driven by AI. “As technology evolves, we want this to be a safe and trusted place where stories, photos, videos and memories shared reflect his legacy with authenticity, warmth and affection,” they continued in their statement.
“This is our way of sharing with the world his unique talent and sense of humor, including the moments that made us laugh and so many of you laugh, while we remember the extraordinary life and work of our father,” they concluded. The actor’s Instagram had been inactive since 2014. His last post was a birthday greeting to Zelda, just a few days before his death.
Zelda Williams, against the misuse of AI
Zelda Williams shed more light on this decision on her own networks, acknowledging that seeing activity suddenly resume on her father’s account could be disconcerting for some fans. “I’m sorry if it has been unsettling for anyone that dad’s old page started posting again. Believe me, I know it’s a little strange,” the actress and director wrote.
Robin Williams and his daughter Zelda in the actor’s latest Instagram post.
However, she stated that offering followers a place where they could find authentic videos and photographs of their father could help distinguish his real work from AI-generated recreations circulating on the Internet. “This is one of the best ways we have found so far to fight against the widespread misuse of his voice and image by AI,” she wrote.
Zelda Williams had already spoken out sharply in the past about these recreations of her father generated artificially. Last October, she urged people to stop sending AI-generated videos featuring Robin Williams, arguing that this technology reduces the work and legacy of real artists to mere imitations.
“Stop thinking that I want to see it or that I’d understand it, because that’s not the case and I won’t,” she wrote in her Instagram Stories at the time. And she added: “If you’re just trying to fool me, I’ve seen much worse things; I’ll block you and move on. But please, if you have a minimum of decency, stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, and that’s it. It’s nonsense, a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it is NOT what he would want.”
A stain on the actor’s legacy
AI-generated Robin Williams videos that have appeared on the Internet show him on podcasts, performing stand-up routines, giving motivational talks, and commenting on the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, to name just a few examples. Many of these clips were created with Sora, OpenAI’s app for creating videos intended for social media.
OpenAI shut down Sora in March, after the app provoked a wave of protests from the heirs of prominent figures such as Michael Jackson or Martin Luther King Jr. Robin Williams, known for films such as Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society, or Aladdin, took his own life after a long battle with Lewy body dementia on August 11, 2014.
