Blade Runner 2049 producers sue Elon Musk, Tesla, and Warner over AI-generated image used in Cybercab promotional event
Blade Runner 2049 production company Alcon Entertainment is suing Tesla, Elon Musk, and Warner Bros. Discovery over their alleged use of AI-generated imagery based on the film in a promotional event for Tesla's new Cybercab. The suit, available via Variety, claims the defendants opted for the AI image after Alcon «refused all permissions and adamantly objected to Defendants suggesting any affiliation between BR2049 and Tesla, Musk or any Musk-owned company.»
Tesla's We, Robot event faced some earlier backlash over the presence of Tesla robots, which were implied to be AI-driven and autonomous but were more likely being controlled by human operators. But this is much more serious: The lawsuit claims Tesla asked for permission to use a still image from Blade Runner 2049 for the event, and when Alcon refused it simply fed images from the film into an AI image generator, along with instructions to make «a lightly stylized fake screen still from BR2049.»
That image was then used early in the Cybercab presentation, and lest anyone not make the connection Musk specifically referenced the film in his opening remarks. «I love Blade Runner, but I don't know if we want that future,» he said. «I think we want that duster he's wearing, but not the bleak apocalypse.»
«Musk tried awkwardly to explain why he was showing the audience a picture of BR2049 when he was supposed to be talking about his new product,» the lawsuit states.
«He really had no credible reason. Musk ostensibly invited the global audience to think about the Cybercab’s possibilities in juxtaposition to BR2049’s fictional future. But it all exuded an odor of thinly contrived excuse to link Tesla’s Cybercab to strong Hollywood brands at a time when Tesla and Musk are on the outs with Hollywood. Which of course is exactly what it was.»
The lawsuit also notes that Blade Runner 2049 is the only Hollywood movie to be used in the Cybercab promotion even though Warner also holds the rights to all the Mad Max films. Any
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