Rise of ‘disrespectful depictions’ of dead cultural icons forces tech company to restrict AI use

OpenAI blocked users of its Sora 2 artificial intelligence (AI) video app from generating videos featuring Martin Luther King Jr., after some users generated what the company described as “disrespectful depictions” of the civil rights icon.

Videos circulating online showed hyper-realistic simulations of King engaging in activities such as stealing from a grocery store and fleeing police. Bernice A. King, Dr. King’s youngest child, contacted the company to request the removal of AI-generated videos using her father’s likeness.

“Some users generated disrespectful depictions of Dr. King’s image. So at King, Inc.’s request, OpenAI has paused generations depicting Dr. King as it strengthens guardrails for historical figures,” OpenAI and King Estate Inc. said in a joint statement posted on X Thursday. “While there are strong free speech interests in depicting historical figures, OpenAI believes public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used.”

Sora 2, which launched in September 2025, allows users to create hyper-realistic videos. The app initially allowed users to generate videos of celebrities and historical figures — including Princess Diana, President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, and Kurt Cobain — without permission.

After videos of Robin Williams flooded social media feeds, Zelda Williams, the late actor’s daughter, urged the public to stop generating videos using her father’s likeness.

“Please, just stop sending me AI videos of my dad,” Williams wrote in an Instagram post, Variety reported, adding that “it’s NOT what he’d want.”

“And for the love of EVERY THING, stop calling it ‘the future,’ AI is just badly recycling and regurgitating the past to be re-consumed. You are taking in the Human Centipede of content, and from the very very end of the line, all while the folks at the front laugh and laugh, consume and consume,” Williams added.

Shortly after the app’s launch, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced updates that allow rights holders to choose whether their likeness can appear in AI-generated videos, rather than permitting it by default. The tech company made similar adjustments to ChatGPT after it ingested copyrighted content without consent.

Hollywood studios and unions have criticized OpenAI and other AI companies, not only for insufficient safety measures and unauthorized use of actors’ likenesses, but over fears AI could replace human talent.

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