Robert Downey, Jr. to ‘Sue All Future Executives’ Who Create His AI Digital Replica

By Stephen Graves

“Iron Man” star Robert Downey, Jr. is laying down some boundaries on the use of his likeness for digital replicas created with generative AI.

The actor, who appeared in eleven Marvel Cinematic Universe films as Tony Stark, told the “On With Kara Swisher” podcast that he would “sue all future executives” who attempted to create a digital replica of him.

Asked about Marvel Studios executives seeking to resurrect his portrayal of Tony Stark without his involvement, using generative AI, Downey, Jr. said that, “I'm 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.”

When host Kara Swisher pointed out that other executives might, in the future, Downey, Jr. responded that, “I intend to sue all future executives just on spec,” and that even after his death, “My law firm will still be very active.”

The actor was sanguine about the prospect of digital replicas, noting that, “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.”

That may be because Downey, Jr. has already had his likeness scanned and used on-screen, with digital doubles used for action sequences in the “Avengers” films, and the actor himself being digitally de-aged for 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War.”

Downey, Jr. is currently grappling with the implications of AI on Broadway in the play “McNEAL,” in which he plays a novelist who uses the technology to help him write his latest work.

The play’s writer, Ayed Akhtar, used generative AI while penning the script, he told Swisher.

“One of the things that I wanted the play to do was to create that sense of magic,” he said, adding that, “you have that in the final monologue, where the monologue appears generated by AI, that there's a sense of magic that this is actually happening—because I feel that that's been my experience.” He conceded that, “I had to imitate the AI in order to make it work for the play; I couldn't get the AI to do it itself.”

“Its ability to now analyze a story and identify the weaknesses and potential opportunities is the thing that has been most surprising.” Akhtar added.

Actors and AI

The film industry is divided over the use of generative AI, with actor Nicolas Cage recently calling the technology “inhumane,” and accusing the studios of wanting to use AI to “change your face after you’ve already shot it.”

Under a 2023 agreement struck between actors’ union SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, studios are permitted to create “employment based digital replicas” (EBDRs) made with the actor’s participation, and independently created digital replicas (ICDRs) made without the direct involvement of the original actor.

While the actor’s union has reached an agreement with motion picture producers, SAG-AFTRA is currently striking over the use of artificial intelligence in video game productions. The union is seeking a deal that would require video game producers to secure consent from performers over the use of AI to replicate their voices, likenesses and performances, as well as compensating performers for the use of their digital replicas in games.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.

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