Families of late public figures are furious after AI-generated videos of Malcolm X, Robin Williams, and others surfaced online, created with OpenAI’s Sora 2 video tool.
Families of late public figures have condemned OpenAI’s video generator, Sora 2, for producing AI clips that reanimate the dead in offensive and misleading ways.
Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, described the videos as “deeply disrespectful and hurtful” after seeing her father’s likeness used in crude online content. Zelda Williams, daughter of the late Robin Williams, also called the trend “maddening.”
Sora 2, which allows users to generate realistic videos, has been used to depict Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse, and Martin Luther King Jr. without consent.
OpenAI said historical figures were exempt from consent rules due to “free speech interests” but later announced that families of recently deceased individuals could request takedowns. Critics warn the tool risks exploiting the dead, arguing that “synthetic resurrection” blurs ethical and legal lines surrounding legacy, privacy, and the use of a person’s likeness after death.