Robert Downey Jr. appeared on a recent episode of the “On With Kara Swisher” podcast and sent a stern warning to Hollywood in the age of AI: “I intend to sue all future executives” who sign off on the creation of a Downey digital replica. The Oscar winner opposes the use of his likeness on screen through AI technology and/or deepfakes. The topic came up in relation to Downey’s Marvel tenure as Iron Man, but he’s confident Marvel would not recreate his Tony Stark through AI.
“There’s two tracks. How do I feel about everything that’s going on? I feel about it minimally because I have an actual emotional life that’s occurring that doesn’t have a lot of room for that,” Downey said when asked about being digitally recreated in the future.
“To go back to the MCU, I am not worried about them hijacking my character’s soul because there’s like three or four guys and gals who make all the decisions there anyway, and they would never do that to me, with or without me,” he added.
When host Kara Swisher said that “future executives certainly will” want to digitally recreate Downey on the big screen, the actor responded, “Well, you’re right. I would like to clarify that I intend to sue all future executives on a speculative basis.
“You’ll be dead,” Swisher noted, to which Downey replied, “But my law firm will still be very active.” Downey is currently confronting the future of AI on Broadway in the play “McNeal,” which takes aim at corporate giants in the AI space, such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
“I don’t envy anyone who has overidentified with the advent of this new phase of the information age.” Downey told Swisher, “The idea that they somehow own it because they have these super huge start-ups is a fallacy,” referring to figures like Altman. “The issue arises when these individuals perceive themselves as the decision-makers in this matter, yet simultaneously seek to project a positive image.” That is a massive fucking error. Their lack of honesty turns me off and discourages me from engaging with them.
Downey is currently gearing up to return to Marvel, but he’s doing it as a human being and not a digital replica of Tony Stark. He’s actually not playing Tony Stark/Iron Man at all and is instead taking on the role of the villainous Doctor Doom starting in 2026’s “Avengers: Doomsday.”
The actor, who won an Oscar earlier this year for his role in Oppenheimer, a film about the invention of the atomic bomb, stated that he typically doesn’t think about the world of AI and deepfakes “because I have an actual emotional life that’s occurring that doesn’t have much room for that.” He continued by saying that such was his faith in those behind the Marvel movies that he doubted the company would ever seek to recreate him on screen without his permission.
“To go back to the MCU,” he said, “I am not worried about them hijacking my character’s soul because there’s like three or four guys and gals who make all the decisions there anyway, and they would never do that to me, with or without me.”
In July, Downey Jr. announced he would be returning to the MCU after his long-running stint as Tony Stark, this time playing Doctor Doom, one of Marvel’s biggest villains, in the forthcoming “Avengers: Doomsday.” The actor’s salary for two films is reportedly about $100 million. Earlier this month, Downey Jr. made his Broadway debut in Ayad Akhtar’s play “McNeal.”