Elon Musk, Tesla, Warner Bros. Discovery sued over alleged 'Blade Runner 2049' AI ripoff for Cybercab promotion
Elon Musk, his car company, Tesla, and Warner Bros.
Elon Musk, his car company, Tesla, and Warner Bros. Discovery were sued Monday over their alleged artificial intelligence-fueled copyright infringement of images from the film “Blade Runner 2049” to promote Tesla’s robotaxi concept.
The lawsuit by the movie’s producer, Alcon Entertainment, says that the mega-billionaire Musk and the other defendants requested permission to use “an iconic still image” from “Blade Runner 2049″ for the Oct. 10 event hyping the Cybercab at Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio lot in Burbank, California. That request was denied.
The Cybercab is Tesla’s concept of a “dedicated robotaxi” that the company says it wants to produce by 2027 and sell for under $30,000.
“Alcon refused all permissions “and adamantly objected to Defendants suggesting any affiliation between BR2049 and Tesla, Musk or any Musk-owned company,” the civil suit in Los Angeles federal court alleges.
“Defendants then used an apparently AI-generated faked image to do it all anyway,” according to the suit, which says the defendant’s actions constituted “a massive economic theft.”
Rating: 5