Elon Musk The obsession to include a reference to the film “Blade Runner 2049” in Tesla’s robotaxi concept has legal repercussions. The production company Alcon Entertainment sued Tesla, Musk and the Hollywood studio Warner Bros., on whose premises the presentation took place.
The 2017 sequel to “Blade Runner” depicts an apocalyptic world with an environmental catastrophe and the collapse of civilization. At the same time, it comes with an autonomous vehicle artificial intelligence
before.
Suspected AI imitation instead of original
Musk said at the event that he loved the film – but it wasn’t the future he wanted to live in. An image appeared that showed a man in a long coat looking out at a sandstorm. Behind it you can see a skyline with skyscrapers against an orange sky. Alcon saw this as a conscious attempt to create a connection in the audience’s minds with a similar image from the film – which the production company refused to use.
Alcon is the rights holder, while Warner Bros. distributed “Blade Runner 2049”. The film company According to Tesla, it was only a few hours before the event that they asked whether they could use the well-known image in the presentation. Alcon refused, the lawsuit says.
Film company wants nothing to do with Musk
Alcon points to this as justification Musk’s political activities and his behavior, “which sometimes veers into hate speech.” They don’t want to be associated with the tech billionaire or any of his companies. But now that happened anyway because a similar image was created for Musk’s presentation using AI software. There was initially no response from Tesla to the lawsuit.
The film company argues that the illicit association with Musk hurts business. Alcon therefore plans to seek an injunction and redress.