Families Voice Outrage Over AI-Generated Videos of Deceased Celebrities

The rise of AI-generated videos featuring deceased celebrities has sparked significant distress among their families, raising profound ethical concerns about consent and respect. A notable example is Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of civil rights leader Malcolm X, who spoke out against OpenAI’s Sora 2 tool that creates realistic videos of her father in disrespectful contexts. This trend, which also includes figures like Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and Whitney Houston, has triggered outrage from other family members such as Zelda Williams, daughter of Robin Williams, who have pleaded for people to stop sharing such synthetic content. The technology’s ability to generate vivid portrayals without consent challenges the moral responsibilities of developers and the legal frameworks protecting image rights of the deceased. OpenAI maintains that freedom of expression guides their policy but has made accommodations to allow representatives of recently deceased public figures to request the removal of images. Experts emphasize that AI’s rapid advancement complicates controlling an individual's legacy after death, as synthetic resurrections become more commonplace. Families experiencing these manipulated depictions face emotional trauma as they confront the altered memories and legacies of their loved ones.