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\nAI-generated deepfake videos of members of the royal family have recently gone viral on TikTok and other social media platformsThe fake clips include videos of the late Queen Elizabeth rapping, shoplifting and playing video games with Princess DianaPrince Harry and Meghan Markle recently joined a group of global celebrities in signing a statement calling on tech companies to stop developing “superintelligent” AI<\/p>\n
As Prince Harry<\/a> and Meghan Markle<\/a> campaign against artificial intelligence, deepfake videos of their royal family members continue to go viral.\n<\/p>\n Recent popular clips, which are startling in their realistic visuals, have included videos of Princess Diana<\/a> serving esquites<\/a>, a traditional Mexican street snack made of grilled corn, and taking to the ring for her pro wrestling “debut.”<\/a>\n<\/p>\n There are also popular deepfakes of Queen Elizabeth playing video games with Diana<\/a>, as well as shoplifting<\/a> and rapping<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n The voices are also AI-generated to sound just like the late royals’ posh dialect, so it’s even more shocking to watch the late monarch drop this verse: “Run heavy, but I keep it cocked \/ Jewels in the pocket, tea kettle locked \/ Came out the palace straight to the block \/ Slippers on concrete, still I won’t stop.”\n<\/p>\n While the most recent popular deepfakes are of late royals, there have also been plenty made of Harry, Meghan, Prince William<\/a>,\u00a0Kate Middleton<\/a>, King Charles<\/a> and more.\n<\/p>\n Buckingham Palace had no comment when reached by PEOPLE about the recent surge in AI-generated videos featuring members of the royal family.\n<\/p>\n Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at Project Healthy Minds’ World Mental Health Day Festival in New York on Oct. 9, 2025.<\/p>\n Kristina Bumphrey\/Variety via Getty<\/p>\n Prince Harry, 41, and Meghan, 44, were recently motivated to join A-listers around the world in\u00a0signing a letter<\/a> calling for a ban on the development of “superintelligent” AI.\n<\/p>\n The letter was addressed to tech companies like Google, OpenAI and Meta Platforms, which are currently striving and competing against one another to build artificial intelligence that can match or even surpass the human mind.\n<\/p>\n The collective statement read, \u201cWe call for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence, not lifted before there is broad scientific consensus that it will be done safely and controllably, and strong public buy-in.\u201d\n<\/p>\n A preamble to the letter went into greater detail and context, detailing the signatories’ concerns about superintelligence, “ranging from human economic obsolescence and disempowerment, losses of freedom, civil liberties, dignity and control, to national security risks and even potential human extinction.”\n<\/p>\n Harry included a personal note that read, “The future of AI should serve humanity, not replace it. I believe the true test of progress will be not how fast we move, but how wisely we steer. There is no second chance.\u201d\n<\/p>\n While paparazzi and palace leaks were the chief concern for privacy in King Charles and Princess Diana’s younger years, the new generation of royals is facing campaigns of online misinformation on a global scale.\n<\/p>\n Last year, intelligence agents in Wales identified 45 social media accounts, linked to Russia, that were allegedly focused on disseminating and amplifying online rumors and conspiracies about Princess Kate’s absence amid her\u00a0abdominal surgery<\/a>\u00a0and cancer diagnosis.\n<\/p>\n British authorities at the time alleged that those involved were behind “a vast malign online network, also commonly known as Doppelganger, which plagues social media with fake posts, counterfeit documents and deepfake material. These deceitful tactics are designed to mask the truth around Russia\u2019s illegal invasion of Ukraine and distract from the true nature of the war.”\n<\/p>\n “It\u2019s not as though these Russia-linked accounts were driving the story; they were jumping on it,” Martin Innes, the director of the Security, Crime and Intelligence Innovation Institute at Cardiff University, told NBC News<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0The New York Times<\/a> at the time. “It was already being framed in conspiracy terms, so foreign actors don\u2019t need to set that frame \u2014 that\u2019s already there to exploit.”\n<\/p>\n “It\u2019s about destabilization. It\u2019s about undermining trust in institutions: government, monarchy, media \u2014 everything,” he added. “These kinds of stories are ideal vehicles by which they do that.”\n<\/p>\n Kate Middleton cancer announcement on March 22, 2024, prompted rumors and conspiracy theories online.<\/p>\n BBC Studios<\/p>\n Prince William and Princess Kate, both 43, have also recently put royal focus on causes related to technology and its impact on future generations.\n<\/p>\n The Princess of Wales recently co-authored an essay titled\u00a0The Power of Human Connection in a Distracted World<\/a>\u00a0with Professor Robert Waldinger from Harvard University. In the essay, Kate explores how today’s smartphones are fueling an \u201cepidemic of disconnection.\u201d\n<\/p>\n “Our smartphones, tablets and computers have become sources of constant distraction, fragmenting our focus and preventing us from giving others the undivided attention that relationships require,\u201d she wrote.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe sit together in the same room while our minds are scattered across dozens of apps, notifications and feeds. We\u2019re physically present but mentally absent, unable to fully engage with the people right in front of us.\u201d\n<\/p>\n For his part, William recently revealed<\/a> how seriously he and Kate manage screen time at home: \u201cNone of our children have any phones, which we\u2019re very strict about,\u201d referring to \u00a0Prince George<\/a>,\u00a012,\u00a0Princess Charlotte<\/a>, 10,\u00a0and\u00a0Prince Louis<\/a>, 7.<\/p>\n