Elon Musk sued for “economic theft” by Blade Runner producer

Elon Musk, Tesla including Warner Bros. are being sued by Alcon Entertainment over the accusation of major economic theft. This followed up after Musk used an AI-generated image that resembles Blade Runner 2049 for the promotion of Robotaxi.

The complaint is directed toward an image that Elon Musk used in his keynote with the intent of explaining that Tesla is trying to avoid a dystopian future in Blade Runner 2049, a 2017 sequel of the franchise by Denis Villeneuve.

AI generated image resembling Blade Runner 2049, Source: Tesla

Elon Musk has also referenced Blade Runner while presenting the image. He said “We see a lot of sci-fi movies where the future is dark and horrible… it’s not a future you want to be in. I like Blade Runner, but I don’t know if I want that future. Maybe we want the duster he’s wearing, but not the bleak apocalypse.”

The producer company of Blade Runner 2049 has reported in its complaint that Tesla’s initial permission for using the “iconic still from the film” was rejected. However, Tesla still decided to move on with it by using AI to generate a fake still based on the film.

The original image from Blade Runner 2049 Source: Alcon Entertainment

According to the company, Musk had “clumsily” attempted to explain the reason behind the image he used of BR 2049 in 11 seconds while talking about his new product. However, there was no credibility behind his reason. The company further reads that apparently, Musk was just attracting the global audience towards the possibility of cybercab by comparing it to the fictional future portrayed in Blade Runner 2049. However “it reeked of flimsy, artificially contrived excuses to tie Tesla’s cybercab to powerful Hollywood brands at a time when Tesla and Musk are in conflict with Hollywood. Which, of course, it was.” Alcon Entertainment

Elon Musk was called “highly politicized, erratic, and arbitrary” in the complaint

It was also mentioned in the complaint that such collaboration between the movies and automotive brands costs tens of millions of dollars. Additionally, the complaint criticizes Elon Musk for being “problematic” and accuses that his highly political and unpredictable behavior has gained significant coverage.

Elon Musk has not responded yet to the lawsuit.

In addition to Elon Musk, the complaint also points to Tesla and Warner Bros. The sole reason Warner Bros. was added as the defendant is that the RoboTaxi keynote was presented at a location owned by the film production company.

It seems like Musk’s references to movies for his products have been causing issues for him. Lately, he was also accused of stealing designs for his Cybercab and Optimus Robot on X. These accusations also came from a figure in the film industry, the director of I Robot, Alex Proyas.