In less than two weeks since its release, OpenAI’s Sora 2 AI video app has been through a rollercoaster. It achieved over a million downloads faster than ChatGPT, spawned a flood of fakes, sent the entertainment industry into a tizzy, and changed its copyright rules, too. Between all that drama, it also left the families of deceased celebs and famous figures aghast.
The dead come alive
Soon after the Sora 2 app was released, the internet was flooded with eerily realistic videos of deceased public figures. The AI-generated videos depicted famous figures like Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, John Lennon, Amy Winehouse, Robin Williams, Malcolm X, and Elvis Presley, among others.
Robin Williams doing a stand up routine making jokes about how Sora allows people to make stand up videos of him after he is dead.
“Wow! That’s commitment. I’m not even here and I’m still working clubs!” pic.twitter.com/qGAFQPvU69
— Jason Rink (@TheJasonRink) October 4, 2025
Soon after these videos started appearing online, Hollywood firms and creative agencies bashed OpenAI for allowing the likeness of actors to be used without their explicit consent. “OpenAI needs to take immediate and decisive action to address this issue,” Charles Rivkin, chief of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), said in a statement.
OpenAI subsequently tightened the copyright rules around using the likenesses of celebrities, and said it will remove videos of dead celebrities if they request it. The trend of using AI to bring back the dead is not particularly new, but the consent and legal rights around it are a key element.
An uphill battle seeking rest and respect
“If you’ve got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop. It’s dumb, it’s a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it’s NOT what he’d want,” William’s daughter, Zelda, shared on Instagram.
“We are doing our best to combat it, but it’s overwhelming, and depressing,” comedy legend George Carlin’s daughter, Kelly Carlin-McCall, shared on BlueSky.
“It is deeply disrespectful and hurtful to see my father’s image used in such a cavalier and insensitive manner when he dedicated his life to truth,” Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, was quoted as saying by The Washington Post.
“I concur concerning my father. Please stop,” Dr. Bernice A. King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., wrote on X while sharing the statement posted by Zelda Williams.
“There’s some sort of weird human condition where they want to take the most lovely, innocent thing and bash it,” Joan Kowalski, president at a company that holds copyright protection over content depicting late painter Bob Ross, told The Post.
