Robin Williams’s Daughter On AI, Matthew Lawrence Backlash<\/p>\n
Back in 2023, Robin Williams\u2019s<\/a> daughter, Zelda, passionately spoke out against<\/a> the \u201cdisturbing\u201d idea of artificial intelligence being used to recreate her late dad\u2019s voice, with the hugely beloved actor dying by suicide in 2014 at age 63.<\/p>\n Robin was famously very protective of the use of his voice work in life, and even feuded<\/a> with Disney after they used his Aladdin character, the Genie, to sell merchandise. The feud was so dramatic that Robin didn\u2019t return for the animated movie\u2019s sequel, and Homer Simpson voice actor, Dan Castellaneta, was cast to replace him as the Genie instead. Robin did return for the third movie, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, two years later.<\/p>\n And Zelda advocated for her father in a statement that was issued in support of the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild\u2019s fight<\/a> against AI two years ago. She wrote at the time: \u201cI am not an impartial voice in the SAG\u2019s fight against AI. I\u2019ve witnessed for YEARS how many people want to train these models to create\/recreate actors who cannot consent, like Dad.\u201d<\/p>\n And this is why people have been left so mad at Matthew Lawrence<\/a> \u2014 who worked with Robin as a child star \u2014 after he recently doubled down<\/a> on his wish to use AI to do \u201csomething really special\u201d in Robin\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n For reference, Matthew was 12 years old when he played Robin\u2019s son Chris in the 1993 movie Mrs. Doubtfire<\/a>. He was already a pretty established child actor by the time that he landed the role, but he has always been incredibly open about how influential working with Robin on this film was for him.<\/p>\n In a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly<\/a>, Matthew shared: \u201cI didn’t quite realize it at the time, but that moment there on set of Mrs. Doubtfire, that those six to eight months were the biggest learning curve anyone can get when it comes to making movies and being an entertainer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then on top of that, you get a chance to be around Robin Williams, and he takes an investment in you, as he does with people. But in particular, he really took an investment with me,\u201d he went on. “He really quantified what it was to be a real artist for me in the sense that he was definitely, and I worked with some great people, and he was definitely the most brilliant artist I’ve ever worked with.\u201d<\/p>\n And Matthew doubled down on his idea to use AI to bring Robin\u2019s voice back to the masses during his appearance in Entertainment Weekly\u2019s<\/a> Comic-Con video suite on Friday \u2014 and it did not go down well with fans.<\/p>\n But this idea sparked instant criticism on social media, with one hugely viral tweet responding to Matthew\u2019s quotes simply reading<\/a>: \u201cTell him to fuck off.\u201d<\/p>\n