LOS ANGELES (AP) β A film production company that helped make βBlade Runner 2049β has sued Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk for using an AI-generated image resembling a scene from the science fiction movie to market Tesla’s new robotaxis.
Alcon Entertainment said it refused all permissions but Tesla allegedly used artificial intelligence to βdo it all anywayβ when the carmaker unveiledΒ its long-awaited robotaxiΒ on Oct. 10 during a live-streamed event at a Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank, California.
After pulling up to the stage in one of the companyβs βCybercabs,β Musk gave a speech that included a brief reference to the movie franchise. As he spoke, a screen showed an image of a man in a long coat looking over an orange-tinted ruined city. Alcon claims it resembles a key scene in which star Ryan Gosling arrives by βquasi-sentient flying carβ to an abandoned Las Vegas.
βI love Blade Runner, but I donβt know if we want that future,” Musk said. “I think we want that duster heβs wearing, but not the bleak apocalypse.β
A copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Alcon this week in a Southern California federal court alleges that defendants had asked permission to use images from the movie βmere hoursβ before the event but Alcon βrefused all permissions and adamantly objected.β
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Alcon is also suing Warner Bros, the movie’s distributor that hosted Musk’s robotaxi event. Warner Bros. Discovery didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Alcon, which is working on a spinoff βBlade Runner 2099β series for Amazon, said it is in talks with automakers about brand collaborations but has avoided affiliating with Tesla because of Musk’s βextreme political and social viewsβ and his βmassively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech.β
