Robert Downey Jr. Promises to Sue ‘All Future Executives’ Who May Try to Replicate His Likeness Using AI

Robert Downey Jr. is making it clear he does not want his likeness to be recreated via artificial intelligence in the future.

While Downey Jr., 59, appeared on the Monday, Oct. 21 episode of the On with Kara Swisher podcast with his McNeal playwright Ayad Akhtar and director Bartlett Sher to discuss his recent Broadway debut, the actor quipped that he “intend[s] to sue all future executives on spec” for any attempts to create a digital replication of him for movies in the future.

“I will say this — there’s two tracks,” he said, when asked how he feels about the idea of digital recreation using AI and how it applies to McNeal, which revolves around a character obsessed with the technology.

“One is — how do I feel about everything that’s going on, and my answer is 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 added. “And to go back to the MCU, 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 Swisher, 61, asked about future executives who may not seek his permission, the actor said, “Well, you’re right, and I would like to here state that I intend to sue all future executives just on spec.”

“I know, but my law firm will still be very active,” he added, after the host said Downey Jr. could be dead when and if this happens.

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Downey Jr.’s play McNeal follows the Avengers star as a character named Jacob McNeal, described in an official synopsis for the production as “a great writer, one of our greatest, a perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature.”

“But McNeal also has an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with Artificial Intelligence,” the synopsis adds.

Downey Jr. intends to return to the big screen with Marvel Studios for the upcoming Avengers movies Doomsdayand Secret Wars as the villain Doctor Doom, which he announced with Marvel at the San Diego Comic-Con back in July. Those movies are due in theaters May 1, 2026, and May 1, 2027, respectively.

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For the moment, Downey Jr,’s play McNeal is currently set for a limited engagement through Nov. 24 in New York City.