Elon Musk accused of copying designs by I, Robot director

The director of 2004 sci-fi movie I, Robotic has accused billionaire Elon Musk of copying his designs for humanoid machines and self-driving automobiles.

At a Tesla occasion on Thursday, Musk unveiled Tesla’s futuristic Cybercab, complete with winged doors and no steering wheel or pedals, and a brand new take a look at its Optimus robots.

However the “We, Robotic” showcase, taking part in on the title of an Isaac Asimov brief story assortment, additionally caught the attention of I, Robotic director Alex Proyas.

The filmmaker, whose movie stars Will Smith as a detective sceptical of seemingly obedient androids, accused Musk of copying his work in a put up on X.

“Hey Elon, can I’ve my designs again please,” Proyas said in a post viewed 6.4 million times.

The Australian movie director mentioned he had labored with a “very proficient design group” to create the movie’s visuals in a response to somebody querying their very own originality in a remark on an Instagram post.

“Elon Musk then again has a not so proficient design group who watched a number of films, together with I, Robotic it appears,” he mentioned.

Patrick Tatopoulos, the movie’s manufacturing designer, later reposted the picture evaluating the movie’s designs and pictures from Tesla’s occasion aspect by aspect in his own post on Instagram.

“Perhaps it’s simply me, or ought to I really feel honoured that Elon discovered some inspiration in my I, Robotic designs,” Mr Tatopoulos wrote.

“Both means it’s enjoyable to look at,” he added.

The claims made by Proyas have been met with scepticism on-line, nonetheless, with some claiming his personal movie is spinoff.

A number of folks replied to his put up on X with pictures of the feminised cyborg in Fritz Lang’s German expressionist movie, Metropolis, from 1927.

However it’s not the primary time folks have queried whether or not tech corporations look to sci-fi cinema and novels for concepts – particularly as companies develop new devices and robotics to capitalise on curiosity in generative synthetic intelligence (AI).

Mr Musk has beforehand mentioned he was impressed by Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Information to the Galaxy, which options humanoid robotic Marvin the Paranoid Android.

Grok, his AI chatbot “with a little humour” designed to be used on X, was later revealed to be modelled on it.

And he has also called Tesla’s futuristic Cybertruck “an armoured personnel service from the long run” that “Bladerunner would have pushed”.

In the meantime OpenAI boss Sam Altman appeared to substantiate comparisons drawn between a flirty, new voice unveiled for ChatGPT and a digital assistant performed by Scarlett Johansson within the 2013 movie Her in a put up on X in Might.

The agency eliminated its “Sky” voice following criticism over its similarity to Ms Johansson’s – saying it was not supposed to be an “imitation”.

The actress mentioned she was left “angered” and “shocked” at the company’s apparent use of a soundalike.