Actor Robert Downey Jr vows to save the world – with AI and robotics
Marvel films’ genius Tony Stark/Iron Man uses Amazon’s re:MARS conference to launch coalition to reverse Earth’s carbon footprint within a decade
Robert Downey Jr doesn’t claim to be a brilliant scientist – even though he has pretended to be one as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in the Marvel films for the past 11 years.
Interestingly enough, when you want to change, the universe puts people in your life that facilitate that
However, on Tuesday night he attended Amazon’s new, premier, open-to-the-public Machine Learning, Automation, Robotics and Space (re:MARS) conference in Las Vegas – a room filled with artificial intelligence (AI) legends, astronauts, and other dignitaries – as a keynote speaker.
He delivered a witty speech that somehow weaved together the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the evolution of Stark’s Iron Man suits, allusions to his own troubled history with drug addiction, the actual history of AI and its pioneers, with a series of jokes using the Amazon Alexa voice and Matt Damon – including a videotaped guest appearance by Damon.
Just when the crowd thought that Downey Jr was just there to entertain them, he got them all to cheer: at the end of his talk he announced that he was launching a new initiative called Footprint Coalition.
Its goal is nothing less than to use robotics, AI and technology to clean up the Earth and reverse its carbon footprint – in a decade.
Check out how he told his story.
“Quick disclaimer, I don’t pretend to understand the complexities we face as a species, just because I portrayed a genius in my professional life,” he said.