Topline
OpenAI on Thursday announced it was pausing its AI tool Sora from generating videos depicting Martin Luther King Jr.’s likeness to comply with a request from the civil rights leader’s estate, in a move that comes amid growing concerns about controversial AI-generated content featuring deceased public figures.
AI-videos of Martin Luther King, Jr., generated by Sora, were widely shared on social media last week.
Bettmann Archive
Key Facts
In a statement issued on social media, OpenAI said some Sora users had “generated disrespectful depictions of Dr. King’s image.”
The company said it is working with King’s estate in this matter and, upon their request, has paused such AI video generations of him.
OpenAI noted it is also strengthening its “guardrails for historical figures,” but it is unclear if this means it may re-enable video generations of the civil rights figure at a future date, with some restrictions.
The company said it believes there are “strong free speech interests in depicting historical figures,” but acknowledged that “public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used.”
The statement added that “authorized representatives or estate owners can request that their likeness not be used in Sora cameos.”
This means that public figures and their families will need to opt out of appearing in Sora clips, rather than having such generations disabled by default.
What Had King’s Family Said?
While King’s estate and his family have not commented on OpenAI’s latest move, the civil rights icon’s daughter, Bernice King, posted about this on social media last week. In the post, King shared a headline of a Variety article about deceased actor Robin Williams’ daughter, urging fans to stop sending her Al Videos of her father. King wrote: “I concur concerning my father. Please stop.” Sharing a screenshot of one such generated video.
Key Background
The latest version of Sora was released to OpenAI users in the US and Canada late last month and it has since surged to become the top-ranked app on Apple’s App Store. The new version of Sora uses a more powerful model and has integrated social media-like features. However, the usage of the app by some users to depict deceased celebrities and public figures has triggered controversy and pushback from family members. Last week, the Washington Post reported that some users had generated Sora videos showing deceased public figures like Malcolm X making crude jokes, Kobe Bryant flying on a helicopter—like the one that crashed and led to his death—and John F. Kennedy making jokes about the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. The report also noted there were AI-generated clips of King making “monkey noises” during his historic “I Have a Dream” speech.
What Have Other Family Members Of Deceased Figures Said?
Zelda Williams, actor and daughter of Robin Williams, urged fans on Instagram to stop sending her AI-generated videos of her deceased father. “Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad. Stop believing I wanna see it or that I’ll understand, I don’t and I won’t. If you’re just trying to troll me, I’ve seen way worse, I’ll restrict and move on. But please, 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.” Malcolm X’s daughter Ilyasah Shabazz told the Washington Post: “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.”