Technology

Robert Downey Jr. Announces Plans to Clean Up the Environment

The AI-based environmental programme will launch in April 2020

10.06.2019 | by Reve Fisher
By Mingle MediaTV - CC BY-SA 2.0
By Mingle MediaTV - CC BY-SA 2.0

Robert Downey Jr.’s new project, the Footprint Coalition, aims to clean the environment using artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

Moving his Iron Man persona off of the silver screen into real life, the actor announced his ever-evolving plans for the technology initiative during the opening address at Amazon’s re:MARS conference.

“By Hollywood osmosis, for the last 11 years or so I’ve been steeped in the actual history of AI and space stuff as it happened and is happening in reality,” he told the crowd, as quoted by Venture Beat. “I think it’s a great read.”

The website for the Footprint Coalition currently consists of just a signup for an email newsletter, but Robert stated that the project will be up and running by April 2020.

“Between robotics and nanotechnology we could probably clean up the planet significantly, if not entirely, within a decade,” he said, as reported by Forbes.

The acclaimed actor explained that he came up with the idea after having dinner with a group of experts.

“I’m going to get actual smart people around me, and then in 11 years, when I’m 65, if we’ve made a notable dent in what I think is a massive threat to our future, I’m going to throw the nuttiest retirement party you’ve ever seen,” he proclaimed. “And you’ll be invited.”

While speaking at the conference, Robert described artificial intelligence as a beacon of hope for the planet. He also appeared to be alarmed at both the state of the environment and his personal influence on the planet’s demise, referring to himself as a “one-man carbon footprint nightmare colossus.”

This is not the actor’s first foray into the world of emerging technologies. Along with his wife Susan Downey, Robert is creating a YouTube Red docu-series about AI, its potential for the future, and the impact the technology is having today.

“Robert and I share a curiosity for AI, a complicated and often polarizing subject,” Susan said, as reported by Variety. “Our aim is to explore AI through a lens of objectivity and accessibility, in a thoroughly bold, splashy, and entertaining way.”

The eight-episode series will launch this year. Robert will host and narrate the docu-series, and a group of professionals in science, philosophy, futurism, technology, engineering, medicine, entertainment, the arts will talk about the effects that AI have had on their industries and the world.

Tags: AI, environment

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