One is an interview with “On With Kara Swisher,” where actor Robert Downey Jr said he would not let his image be used through artificial intelligence in films. The actor who portrayed Iron Man in the MCU said he would confidently sue a Hollywood executive who creates an AI replica of his likeness.
Downey has opposed AI-driven likenesses for personal reasons, privacy, identity theft, and using identity without consent. He goes further to say that if Marvel would like to continue doing CGI to replicate him as Tony Stark, “I just know that the top people don’t feel like recreating the role without me driving it; I trust these people enough to respect me for the character and legacy.” However, Downey pointed out that executives in Hollywood of the future would most likely view AI differently.
Joining Kara Swisher in a bit for laughter given the prophetic words he wouldn’t be around for future executives to share his opinion, and in typical Downey fashion, he declared laughing though: I intend to sue all future executives just on spec. And if he’s already long gone, his lawyers, Downey jokes, will continue to battle it out for his cause. He also has a word to say regarding the more significant AI environment, stating that “sometimes part of him can still be skeptical of any of the figures in the big tech spaces, from, on down’.
Healing suggested that it was absurd for such players to submit themselves to authoritarian positions over technology, never mind such an attitude, which he wondered, as an Asshole. Downey stated that the tech influencers themselves make or develop the public perception against their competitors, a situation that Downey said is one massive ‘error’ that causes great pause in dealing with the influencers.
Ironically, while Downey has been arguing against AI, he has also been involved in several conversations inside and outside his Broadway performance of McNeal, which harshly critiques corporate meddling and raises ethical concerns about the growing power of that technology. Although Downey is a significant character in the MCU, he cannot reprise his role as Tony Stark in the film. He is getting set to join Marvel as another villainous character, though not one that is close to his heart like Ultron or Thanos, but Doctor Doom does come next in 2026’s ‘Avengers: Doomsday.’
