Robin Williams' Kids Revive Instagram Page Because of AI

Robin Williams' long-quiet Instagram account is active again, and his children say AI is the reason. Zak, Zelda, and Cody Williams announced in a post that they're reviving the page to give fans a verified source for clips, photos, and memories of their father as unauthorized AI versions of him spread online, the CBC reports. The actor's offspring described the account as a place to share his work "with authenticity" and push back against what Zelda Williams called "rampant AI abuse" of his image and voice.

AI-generated videos have depicted Robin Williams, who died in 2014, doing new stand-up, podcast appearances, and even reacting to Jurassic Park, many made with OpenAI's now-shuttered Sora tool. Zelda Williams has repeatedly urged people to stop sending her such clips, while some, like Mrs. Doubtfire co-star Matthew Lawrence, have floated AI tributes—but only with the family's consent. In 2023, Zelda Williams wrote, per Variety: "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."