Robert Downey Jr. plans to sue any Hollywood executive who signs off on the creation of his digital replica.

99 points

“I don’t envy anyone who has been over-identified with the advent of this new phase of the information age. The idea that somehow it belongs to them because they have these super huge start-ups is a fallacy,” Downey told Swisher about figures like Altman. “The problem is when these individuals believe that they are the arbiters of managing this but meanwhile are wanting and/or needing to be seen in a favorable light. That is a massive fucking error. It turns me off and makes me not want to engage with them because they are not being truthful.”

👏🏼👏🏼

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13 points

Dude just said what rub me the wrong way these AI mumbo jumbo techbro do, that i myself can’t really quite get why.

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70 points

“You’ll be dead,” Swisher noted, to which Downey replied: “But my law firm will still be very active.”

You can have a will and an estate, but if your estate fucks you over is there anything anyone can do about it?

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39 points

I dunno, lets ask Prince …

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16 points

Holy shit, that’s some really harsh collateral damage

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11 points

Get to haunting some motherfuckers

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6 points

Spouse will sue

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1 point

what if spouse is also dead

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6 points

Someone with an interest in a payout will sue.

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2 points

Kids will sue

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50 points

People, your likeness can’t be used by others commercially without your consent, and this goes back way before AI or even computers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_rights#United_States

For example:

actor Crispin Glover filed a lawsuit against Universal Studios for both the unauthorized use of his likeness and the use of footage of him from Back to the Future in Back to the Future Part II; his permission had not been sought for the latter and he received no payment. After a motion to dismiss was denied, the case was settled for an undisclosed amount. The Screen Actors Guild changed its rules to prohibit its members from unauthorized mimicking of other SAG members.[51][52]

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8 points

How’d that work out for Johansson?

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13 points

Well we don’t know, the case is ongoing. But it’ll probably go in her favor. Judges currently tend to dislike AI.

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2 points
*

the AI piece is kind of irrelevant. the only relevant parts as far as I understand are how much the “image” directly resembles her, and the laws in the specific state (I believe her state of residence, but could be wrong).

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7 points

Does this mean Elvis impersonators are breaking the law?

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6 points

If they’re not in SAG and/or it’s not a SAG-covered field, then no.

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2 points

It’s definitely a SAG-covered field, especially with later-era Elvises.

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2 points
*

Not just Elvis, there are a lot of celebrity impersonators out there. I’m guessing they are legal or traditionally tolerated for some reason. Maybe the fact that it’s in-person vs in a film/tv show/ad/print makes it different.

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30 points

The whole big tech ethos is to figure out the intersection of against-the-spirit-of-the-law and within-the-letter-of-the-law, and colonize the fuck out of that spot.

So they’ll probably just create a replica through means that allow them to claim they didn’t use his likeness directly, and call it “Rodert Upney Sr.”

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God, this is so painfully true. Microsoft really set the precedent for the industry, often straying over the line into illegality; if Bush hadn’t given directions that resulted in the ruling being overturned, they’d be several smaller companies now, and without their near-monopoly.

Fucking Bush.

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12 points

THIS SUMMER, Bobert Sideney III IS…Metal Fella

It’s Bruce Lee/Bruce Li/Bruce Le/Bruce Lai/Dragon Lee all over again.

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6 points

He was great in Smooch Smooch Boom Boom.

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5 points

lol, like that’s going to stop them.

You signed their contracts and they will find a way to own and replicate your likeness.

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25 points
*

surely the contracts he signed are for a limited number of appearances, not to use his likeness in perpetuity. this is nothing new in hollywood, contracts have been drawn up considering likenesses for a very long time, AI is not really anything new in that regard.

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