Robert Downey Jr. plans to sue any Hollywood executive who signs off on the creation of his digital replica.
lol, like that’s going to stop them.
You signed their contracts and they will find a way to own and replicate your likeness.
Did he just now realize that he signed away the rights to his digital likeness many years ago?
If he did, he likely did that before it was possible to create photorealistic digital clones. Then it’s an interesting question about how US contract law works: are you able to agree on something that is not possible at the time of signing?
Surely, if the contract would contain some explicit clause about that. But if it just said some like “we can do anything we want with the video material”, then it’s probably less clear.
there’s no way this was not accounted for by his agent or whoever negotiated for him. You can’t even use a photograph of an actor in a movie without negotiating an “image and likeness” agreement.
For example, Crispin Glover sued and got a settlement because they used his likeness in BTtF2 and 3 by making George Mcfly’s new actor look like Glover with makeup and prosthetics. CGI and AI don’t change that at all.
Interesting point.
Michael Jackson sold his digital likeness when it was only possible with the most advanced computer imagery hardware. Majel Barrett recorded her voice to be synthesized and then died before it was actually possible to do so convincingly.
I think there’s a lot of cases like this that are too vague and written before the technology was fully understood to clearly indicate legal rights and will have to be renegotiated.
“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.”
👏🏼👏🏼
And this was the day Robert Downey Jr. discovered just how little power he actually held.
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]
Well we don’t know, the case is ongoing. But it’ll probably go in her favor. Judges currently tend to dislike AI.
