Zelda Williams is calling out another AI-generated video that makes her late father, Robin Williams, appear to say things he never recorded.
The filmmaker responded Sept. 21 to a supposedly “private” video circulating online that depicts Williams discussing conspiracy theories. In a post on X, Zelda said the footage was “clearly AI” and criticized the artificial version of her father’s voice as “robotic and terrible.”
She also addressed the person behind the video, arguing that manufacturing footage of a dead celebrity to strengthen an argument only creates another form of manipulation. “Just because he’s gone does not mean he’s now your puppet,” she wrote. “Have some shame.”
The post comes about a month after Zelda and her brothers, Zak and Cody, reactivated their father’s official Instagram account after more than a decade of inactivity. The family said one reason for bringing it back was to give fans a reliable place to find authentic photographs and footage as AI recreations of Williams continue spreading online.
Zelda Says Fans Should Have Recognized the Fake Voice
That supposedly ‘private video’ of dad that I’ve been shown talking about conspiracies is clearly AI, and not even particularly convincing AI. Anyone who claims to be a fan who believes it clearly listened to his movies on mute because that voice is robotic and terrible. That…
— Zelda Williams (@zeldawilliams) September 21, 2026
Zelda rejected the purported conspiracy-theory recording outright and said longtime fans should have recognized that the voice did not sound like her father.
“Anyone who claims to be a fan who believes it clearly listened to his movies on mute because that voice is robotic and terrible,” she wrote.
Her criticism then shifted to the purpose of the fabrication. Zelda questioned why someone would need to make a dead person appear to endorse an argument if that argument could stand on its own.
“If you cannot make your case without making a dead man make it more convincing for you, then tell me: who’s the one manipulating the public thru media now?” she wrote in the statement reported by Variety.
Zelda also criticized X, calling it a “cesspool” dominated by bots and people willing to believe them. She said her reason for responding despite that frustration was simple: “I love him, so I will.”
Robin Williams died in 2014 at 63. His voice, facial expressions and rapid shifts between characters were defining parts of performances across his stand-up career and movies including Mrs. Doubtfire, Aladdin, Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society, making both his voice and likeness recognizable material for AI imitation.
His Children Reopened Robin Williams’ Instagram to Share Authentic Material
View this post on Instagram
Zak, Zelda and Cody revived their father’s official Instagram account in August and said they wanted it to become a “safe, trusted place” for authentic material connected with his life and work.
The account had effectively remained dormant since Williams’ death. In their Aug. 17 post, his children explained that they planned to share photographs, videos and stories that reflected the person they knew rather than synthetic recreations.
Zelda directly connected the decision to AI in a separate Instagram Story.
“Making that space into one where people can find authentic clips and photos of him is one of the best ways we’ve now found to fight back against rampant AI abuse of his voice and likeness on here,” she wrote, according to Variety.
As WOG previously reported, the family plans to use the account as an authenticated archive while also marking Williams’ legacy during what would have been his 75th year.
The new conspiracy video demonstrates the specific problem the family was trying to address. Authentic Williams performances and interviews now circulate online alongside synthetic clips capable of placing entirely new statements in his mouth.
Zelda Asked Fans to Stop Sending Her AI Videos of Her Father in 2025
Zelda had already issued a direct plea about AI recreations in October 2025 after people repeatedly sent her synthetic videos featuring Williams.
“Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad,” she wrote at the time, according to Variety. She said she did not find the videos comforting and did not believe her father would have wanted them created.
Zelda criticized the way AI-generated material could reduce a person’s work and identity to something that merely resembles them closely enough to attract attention.
“You’re not making art,” she wrote. “You’re making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings, out of the history of art and music.”
She also rejected descriptions of that material as “the future,” arguing that generative AI was repackaging existing human work rather than replacing the choices involved in an actual performance.
She Was Warning About AI Replicas During the 2023 Actors’ Strike
Zelda publicly raised similar concerns during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, when the use of actors’ voices and likenesses through artificial intelligence became one of the major issues in negotiations.
She said she had already heard AI systems recreating her father’s voice and making it say things he never chose to say.
“I’ve witnessed for YEARS how many people want to train these models to create/recreate actors who cannot consent, like Dad,” she wrote in comments reported by the Los Angeles Times. “This isn’t theoretical, it is very very real.”
The contract that ended the 2023 strike established consent and compensation requirements covering certain digital replicas of performers. SAG-AFTRA has continued developing guidance around synthetic performers and replicas, including protections involving deceased actors.