‘Horrible Frankenstein’s Monster’: Robin Williams’ AI Version? His daughter condemns the use of her father’s voice

Although the WGA, the Screenwriters Guild of America, which protects their copyrights, eventually won the case with the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers), establishing an agreement in principle to regulate, in particular, the use of artificial intelligence, the debate surrounds it. Technology continues. The actors, who are still on strike, are demanding stricter oversight of the use of artificial intelligence.

If the problem applies to actors still alive, it also applies to dead actors. In Instagram historyZelda Williams, daughter of Robin Williams, who died in August 2014, denounces the technology, which she finds personally troubling but also poses an ethical problem in her view.

He writes: “I am not an impartial voice in the SAG (Screen Actors Guild-American) battle against artificial intelligence. Over the years, many people have tried to recreate non-consenting actors like my father. It’s not theoretical, it’s very, very real.

They force him to say what the people want him to say.

I’ve already heard his “voice” recreated by artificial intelligence, made to say what people want. And while I personally find it disturbing, the implications go beyond my feelings. Live actors deserve the opportunity to create characters of their own choosing, to sing cartoons, to put their human effort and time into the pursuit of a performance..”

In addition to being nervous when hearing the voice of her dead father, the young woman condemns the reproduction of actors’ voices by artificial intelligence. Actors try to create things, create innovations, manage to give humanity to an animated character, just like Robin Williams did with the genius of Aladdin. And not giving them the opportunity, he said, would be counterproductive.

Zelda Williams adds:This recreation is, at best, a poor facsimile of the people. They become Frankenstein’s monsters, made up of the worst elements of the industry instead of what it should represent.”

Last June, Walt Disney announced a new short film called Once Upon a Studio (airing on Disney+ starting October 16) in celebration of the studio’s 100th anniversary, featuring the iconic characters.

Aladdin’s genius appears there and always doubles Robin Williams, but it’s not the AI ​​that recreated the actor’s voice. In agreement with the rights holders, the studio used unreleased audio archive recordings.

Which once again shows the importance of precise supervision of the use of artificial intelligence.

“Once upon a time was a studio” trailer