Key Takeaways
- Elon Musk, Tesla, and Warner Bros. Discovery are all named in a lawsuit brought by the TV and film studio behind Blade Runner 2049.
- According to the lawsuit, Musk used movie stills to promote Tesla’s Robotaxi event without permission, infringing on copyright.
- Although artificial intelligence was utilized to construct the real imagery, it resembles the 2017 movie’s imagery nearly exactly.
On October 21, Alcon Entertainment filed a lawsuit in the US District Court in Los Angeles, claiming that Tesla and Elon Musk advertised the company’s Robotaxi event, which took place at the Warner Bros. ‘Blade Runner 2049’-style studio in Burbank, California, employing artificial intelligence-generated visuals.
According to the lawsuit, one of these featured “a Ryan Gosling look-alike.”
The lawsuit described the use of AI to produce images based on Blade Runner 2049 as “a bad-faith and intentionally malicious gambit” to “misappropriate the ‘Blade Runner 2049’ brand to ensuring that the company’s Robotaxi event was appealing to a worldwide audience and aid in the sale of Teslas.
At first, Musk asked Alcon for permission to utilize the film’s images. According to the lawsuit, the request was denied because of Musk’s highly politicized, erratic, and arbitrary actions, which occasionally border on hate speech.
Alcon Charges “False Endorsement” Against Robotaxi Event Organizers
Alcon charged event planners with false endorsement and suggesting a relationship between Tesla and the film studio, citing Tesla’s upcoming partnership with other automakers for the “Blade Runner 2099” Amazon TV series.
The lawsuit was substantial in financial magnitude, as Musk repeatedly referenced the 1982 Blade Runner movie and suggested it was the inspiration for Tesla’s Cybertruck.
Scarlett Johansson vs. OpenAI: Comparable Situation
Scarlet Johansson filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for mimicking her voice for a virtual assistant because her speech sounded “eerily similar” to the robot’s “Sky” voice. Declaring that AI voices shouldn’t purposefully copy a celebrity’s unique voice, OpenAI refuted the charge and took down the voice. Scarlet Johansson said her voice sounded “eerily similar” to OpenAI’s “Sky” voice earlier this year in a case that is comparable to this one. Regarding the case, Elon Musk has not yet responded.
