AI has reached a point where the dead don’t always stay gone. With a few prompts and a trained model, we can make someone’s face move, their voice speak, and their legacy perform again — all without their consent.

It’s fascinating. It’s emotional. It’s also deeply unsettling.

Recently, the internet has seen waves of AI videos resurrecting icons like 2Pac, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robin Williams. The comments are usually split — half in awe, half in discomfort. Sure, it’s wild to see Pac talking about modern issues or Robin cracking jokes like he never left, but at what cost?

The Consent Crisis

Their families have spoken up.
Robin Williams’ daughter, Zelda, called out creators for using her father’s likeness through AI, saying it felt “disturbing” and that it strips away humanity for the sake of novelty.
Bernice King, MLK’s daughter, said it plainly — stop using her father’s image to sell messages he never approved.

Even when it’s meant as tribute, the act itself becomes invasive.

We can say it’s nostalgia. We can say it’s art. But if someone’s likeness, voice, or words are recreated without their consent — or the consent of their estate — it starts to feel more like digital necromancy than homage.

Who Owns a Digital Soul?

The deeper issue is ownership.
Who controls a person’s image after they’re gone — the family, the public, or the algorithm?

We’ve entered a cultural gray zone where technology moves faster than ethics, and creativity runs headfirst into morality.

It’s not that all AI use is wrong — far from it. When done responsibly, it can preserve culture, restore damaged footage, or even help unfinished art see the light of day.

But the moment it starts replacing intent with imitation, we lose the soul of it all.

Respecting the Boundary Between Tribute and Theft

There’s something sacred about finality — knowing that a person’s voice, their art, their energy existed in a specific time and place.
AI erases that boundary. It turns memory into content.

And maybe that’s the line:
Just because we can bring someone back, doesn’t mean we should.

Because at the end of the day, the best way to honor the dead isn’t by reanimating them through software — it’s by letting their work, their message, and their humanity stand untouched.

That’s what legacy really means.