Robin Williams' children reactivate his Instagram to counter 'AI abuse'

The children of late actor Robin Williams — Zak, Zelda, and Cody — have taken over his Instagram account, which had been dormant since his death in 2014. The Wrap first reported the news.

In a post shared Tuesday, the siblings said they want their father's profile to be a safe, trusted place where the stories, photos, and videos shared reflect his legacy with authenticity, warmth, and care.

Fighting AI misuse

In a separate Instagram story, Zelda Williams explained that reviving the account is meant to help combat what she called rampant AI abuse of her father's voice and likeness. She acknowledged the move might feel strange to some fans but said turning the page into a source of authentic clips and photos is one of the best tools available to counter the problem.

Last year, Zelda Williams had already asked fans to stop sending her AI-generated videos of her father, criticizing how the legacies of real people get reduced to content that merely resembles them so it can be used to produce low-quality AI clips.

A wider issue

The article notes that while some AI tools have guardrails meant to stop users from generating images or videos of public figures, these restrictions can often be bypassed. OpenAI's now-discontinued Sora app was reportedly used to generate videos featuring copyrighted characters and celebrities, and Grok continues to produce sexualized deepfakes of well-known women. ByteDance's AI model Seedance reached an agreement with the Motion Picture Association after weak safeguards allowed similar misuse. Scammers have also used AI likenesses of celebrities such as Taylor Swift and Rihanna to run scams on TikTok.

Zak, Zelda, and Cody Williams said they plan to use their father's account to share his unique talent and humor with the world.