Furious Steve Irwin fans have lashed out after a social media user posted an AI-generated “macro” clip of the late Crocodile Hunter interacting with his daughter Bindi.
An X user recently posted a series of AI clips on the platform, in which a living celebrity interacted with a dead one, to highlight the abilities of a new chatbot called Grok-2.
A short clip captured an AI-generated Steve Irwin smiling alongside his daughter Bindi, 26, as he looks now.
Steve and Bindi’s models have an eerie wax-like effect in the images, and neither look much like their real-life counterparts.
Steve’s face is much plumper than it was in real life, while Bindi’s facial features have been completely softened, giving her the appearance of a porcelain doll.
This eerie effect is commonly known as the uncanny valley and AI images will often have different “flags” to show that they are not a genuine photo.
Furious Steve Irwin fans have lashed out after a social media user posted an AI-generated “macro” clip of the late Crocodile Hunter interacting with his adult Bindi. in the photo
Bindi was just eight years old when Steve tragically died in 2006, after being pierced in the chest by a manta ray off the Queensland coast, so she never met her daughter as an adult.
Irwin’s upset fans quickly commented on the post to criticize the user for his actions.
‘This is really fucked up. “I think you should take a hard look at yourself for putting this out into the world,” one furious user criticized.
‘These are real human beings, who have suffered real human tragedies. Not toys to play with dolls,” added a second user.
“Absolutely fucking macabre,” a third user chimed in, and another wrote: “Extremely disrespectful and disgusting.”
This is the latest episode in a series of controversies over the use of AI to generate images of celebrities without their consent.
Earlier this month, The Block host Scott Cam publicly lashed out after AI footage was used of him applying a weight loss product without his knowledge.
Steve ‘The Crocodile Hunter’ Irwin died aged 44 off the coast of Queensland on September 4, 2006, after being pierced in the chest by a stingray while filming a nature documentary.
An X user recently posted a series of AI clips on the platform, in which a living celebrity interacted with a dead one, to highlight the abilities of a new chatbot called Grok-2.
Steve and Bindi’s models have an eerie wax-like effect in photos, and neither look much like their real-life counterparts. Pictured: Steve and Terri Irwin with their children Bindi and Robert in 2003.
Bindi was six years old when she tragically passed away, while her brother Robert was three months shy of his third birthday.
His legacy, however, lives on through his family, who have continued their mission of conservation and defense of wildlife.
It was Steve’s father Bob, 85, who built the iconic Queensland Zoo from scratch in 1970 and passed it on to his late son and his wife Terri in 1992.
During his lifetime, Steve promoted wildlife conservation with his hit television show, The Crocodile Hunter.
His family has continued his legacy with their own hit wildlife reality series, Crikey. They are the Irwins.
The series debuted in 2018 and can still be seen on the Animal Planet network.