It is decent microcosm of the state of the world if you’re looking to understand why younger generations seem so fatalistically, nihilistically depressed - they are simply aware that nobody can break these vicious cycles.
The video Robin's daughter referenced in her tweet is being circulated as a "private video" of him. In other words, people are claiming it's a real video, or being led to believe it's a real video. It's not and therefore this isn't some misguided AI-generated act of love. It's deception, almost certainly to garner and possibly monetize "attention".
2025:
Robin Williams' daughter pleads for people to stop sending AI videos of her dad
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45505626
2023:
Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda slams AI for recreating her father’s voice
People who are Robin Williams fans aren't making AI videos of him.
The kind of people who are making videos of him are people trying to get engagement on social media.
Either building an audience to then be an "influencer", or to sell the account to a marketing firm who will then use it to kickstart an online brand.
Marketing company has a client with some stupid new kitchen gadget, so they buy a pumped up account that had Robin Williams memes intermixed with some stolen baking/cooking cartoons and memes.
It's always about money...
i'd never do it.
but this is the internet. people are making AI videos of everyone and everything.
no offense, but RW isn't special there are many famous people out there and it just comes with the territory of being famous.
if it is a good AI video and i think it is funny or good, i'll give it a like and move on.
you're free to downvote me if you disagree, because either way, in this case both up and down votes prove me right.
edit: since I can't reply directly for a bit, here's some updates: (^ = my reply)
clipsy: So your worldview boils down to: if something happens a lot, it can't be bad?
^ so you want to force/compel people to your world view? feel free to join Mao, Stalin, and other [famous - lol] people who did the same!
Barbing: Where are you seeing AI edits?
^ the internet exists, you can go on social media like X, IG, Reddit, etc. unless you're holier than others and "better" and thus don't go anywhere on the internet because you're too busy changing the world or whatever from your high horse
dghlsakjg: Upvotes and downvotes do not give any validity to an argument. Sorry it doesn’t make sense to you.
^ its okay. you're one of those people who obsesses over what other people think, and live your life that way.
clipsy: > i mean.. i get it. (point 1) i'd never do it. (point 2) And?
> i also said, it is the internet and people will do that because famous people are... famous... and if there's an AI video of a famous person that I do like, i will give it a like.
Essentially: it happens a lot so it must be OK. Lovely morals.
> if Robin Williams was some guy who worked as a cashier at Trader Joe's his whole life nobody would care
People don't care about a random murder victim as much as they care about Rob Reiner; murder is still wrong and deplorable.
> maybe Robin Williams should have never been an actor then he'd be unknown to the masses, like 99% of us on HN
Whiny bullshit.
^ lol
popalchemist: The difference here is he committed suicide, so it is obviously extremely triggering for his daughter to see him saying random (often racist or otherwise created for shock value) trash content as if he's still alive. You have low empathy, in case you didn't know.
^ weaponized empathy. my point was that unless you compel/force people, this is going to happen with people making AI edits. and again... i wouldn't do it. if it was a "good" AI edit, something "positive" (in my world view, something that brings a smile), then I will like it.
I don't remember seeing any RW content, but there was some John Lennon stuff. He was mostly in good taste, but I remember seeing something and being, uncomfortable with it.
I don't really see why Bob Barker should be any less protected, then John Lennon or Robin Williams. None of these people were saints.
But there is or at least used to be deference provided to certain people or establishments.
I haven't seen this video that was so upsetting, but perhaps it's not the reanimation so much as the content. Some of it is so obviously satire it's not to be taken seriously.
But, I remember somebody used Bruce Lee as a vessel to spread the gospel on Sora. I had to frown at that, as it was not how he would have behaved.
No, they really don't.
Sorry it doesn’t make sense to you.
i mean.. i get it. (point 1) i'd never do it. (point 2)
i also said, it is the internet and people will do that because famous people are... famous... and if there's an AI video of a famous person that I do like, i will give it a like.
if Robin Williams was some guy who worked as a cashier at Trader Joe's his whole life nobody would care
maybe Robin Williams should have never been an actor then he'd be unknown to the masses, like 99% of us on HN
And?
> i also said, it is the internet and people will do that because famous people are... famous... and if there's an AI video of a famous person that I do like, i will give it a like.
Essentially: it happens a lot so it must be OK. Lovely morals.
> if Robin Williams was some guy who worked as a cashier at Trader Joe's his whole life nobody would care
People don't care about a random murder victim as much as they care about Rob Reiner; murder is still wrong and deplorable.
> maybe Robin Williams should have never been an actor then he'd be unknown to the masses, like 99% of us on HN
Whiny bullshit.
So… ok? You can go and knock over headstones in graveyards too. So what? It doesn’t prove anything except you’re a jackass.
If what you mean is “She is wrong to ask for this, our entertainment is more important than her grief”, then, well, I guess that’s an argument you can make, but you haven’t actually made the argument.
incants magical spell so that I'm always right!
Checkmate atheists, or something.
(No. Come on.)
i see AI edits of people who aren't here anymore like that guy charlie kirk or george floyd (to pick examples from "both" sides), i saw ai edits of alan rickman (guy who played Snape in happy Potter), and there are edits of napoleon or others.
if my dad was a famous actor known by literally 100s of millions of people, that was my dad's choice to bring that on himself. just being real.
people trying to compel other people is just an L take
If you're consuming "AI edits" of Sam and Dario "every day", that explains a lot about your comments here.
You have low empathy, in case you didn't know.
However, RW was going through hell on earth with his diagnoses and the progression of this disease. Many of us don't view what he did as a willful destruction of the life that God gave him.
Zelda is not exercising power or suppressing a controversy. This is just old fashioned dickheadedness. A generous interpretation would be juvenile trolling since they know their mark is vulnerable.
With a reasonably more generous definition, this case can indeed be considered a Streisand effect, if the problem gets worse by calling attention to it because now more idiots know about it. But a lawsuit would seal the deal!
But shazbot to anyone who goes rule 34 on him.
1. You appreciate Robin Williams and were he here right now judging you for how you honor his memory, would he approve?
2. Robin Williams is not here, or anywhere, so then if he were would he approve of you bringing pain to someone he loved dearly? Why would you do that to Robin Williams?
3. Robin Williams is not here, or anywhere, so then nothing matters and I bet I could get some views.
It's difficult to see love in these acts when they seem to be fundamentally selfish. Not at all what Robin Williams would do.
What about when poking fun at Hitler, such as Kung Fury and Jojo Rabbit do? Off limits?
Can one paint Bob Ross in a sci-fi setting? Is that unethical? Is it okay so long as a "real" artist does it and not an "AI artist"? Or can we seriously never depict him again because someone might get angry?
"Mr. Rogers in a blood-stained sweater"?
Come on!
And we can't animate Bruce Lee? Or put him on stickers? Or have him in new movies? (Nevermind how Quentin Tarantino did him wrong.)
When I grew up Elvis effigies were everywhere. And I mean everywhere. The people who liked this stuff are mostly dead or retired now so you don't see it as much, but it used to be a big deal. Really big deal.
So we can't do that anymore?
Abraham Lincoln hunts vampires for Christ's sake...
Also, this a good list of false equivalences. Robin Williams, when public, was empathetic, emotional, and arguably humanist. His memory isn't a caricature from people who have never known him, as you would see from Star Trek holo-deck episodes featuring Leonardo Da Vanci. His memory is something that is deeply important to people who are living. Some of those people simply appreciated his art and his behavior. One of those people is his daughter. You don't get to say what is right or wrong here. No one's going to stop you if you want to make a video of Robin Williams taking the Siegfried Oath, but you should understand why it is wrong.
It sucks for Zelda this saddens her so much, but if I were in her shoes it’s something I know I can’t control and so I’d try to embrace or ignore it.
"glove slap I demand satisfaction. Pistols at dawn. This is how we settle problems and there's no going back now." God made man and Colt made them equal, yes?
The current usage of AI is similarly unrefined and out of hand.
Would people still make AI videos of him like this if the attention economy didn’t exist or clicks wouldn’t generate money?