LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� A film production company that helped make 鈥淏lade Runner 2049鈥� 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 鈥渄o it all anyway鈥� when the carmaker unveiled 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 company鈥檚 鈥淐ybercabs,鈥� 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 鈥渜uasi-sentient flying car鈥� to an abandoned Las Vegas.
鈥淚 love Blade Runner, but I don鈥檛 know if we want that future," Musk said. "I think we want that duster he鈥檚 wearing, but not the bleak apocalypse.鈥�
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 鈥渕ere hours鈥� before the event but Alcon 鈥渞efused all permissions and adamantly objected.鈥�
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 鈥淏lade Runner 2099鈥� series for Amazon, said it is in talks with automakers about brand collaborations but has avoided affiliating with Tesla because of Musk's 鈥渆xtreme political and social views鈥� and his 鈥渕assively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech.鈥�
The Associated Press
