Blade Runner 2049 producers sue Elon Musk over AI art at robotaxi event

As a researcher with a keen interest in technology, AI, and intellectual property rights, I find myself intrigued by this ongoing legal dispute between Alcon Entertainment, Tesla, and Warner Bros. Discovery over the use of an image from Blade Runner 2049 during Tesla’s event promoting its robotaxis.


In a recent allegation, it’s claimed that Elon Musk, Tesla, and Warner Bros. Discovery may have infringed upon the copyright of the film “Blade Runner 2049” during a promotional event for Tesla’s robotaxis.

In a lawsuit filed on October 21st at a federal court in Los Angeles, the producer of the 2017 dystopian movie, Alcon Entertainment, stated that Tesla, Elon Musk, and Warner Bros. initially asked for permission to utilize a single image from the film. However, this request was declined by Alcon.

Tesla aimed to showcase its “Cybercab” – a self-driving taxi vehicle – during an event on October 10, held at Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank. However, Alcon declined the offer as they wished to keep their film separate from Elon Musk’s controversial political and social views.

But it alleged the trio “then used an apparently AI-generated faked image to do it all anyway.”

This is about the most recent court case concerning AI artwork and the unauthorized content that some AI companies are accused of utilizing for training their systems.

The “slightly modified movie scene snapshot” featuring a man in a coat looking at a devastated cityscape, which lasted for 11 seconds, was exhibited during Elon Musk’s presentation at the event.

Blade Runner 2049 producers sue Elon Musk over AI art at robotaxi event

In that brief interval of 11 seconds, Elon Musk found himself squirming as he attempted to elucquently justify why he had displayed an image from the movie ‘Blade Runner 2049’ instead of focusing on his new product, as stated in Alcon’s lawsuit.

“He really had no credible reason.”

According to Alcon’s statement in its lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery, it possesses certain restricted and continuing rights regarding the film “Blade Runner 2049”, yet these rights do not extend to broadcasting the movie over live streaming television.

Alcon argued that using their AI-generated image amounted to a significant financial misappropriation, and they estimated the worth of the associated brand recognition to be at least six figures, possibly even more, without specifying an exact compensation amount for any potential damage.

Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

As a crypto investor, I found it intriguing when Alcon Entertainment accused a certain individual of muddying the waters regarding their potential car brand partnerships for the upcoming “Blade Runner” TV series. They seemed particularly concerned that their project might now be associated with the controversial Elon Musk.

When evaluating any potential collaboration with Tesla, a sensible company should be mindful of Elon Musk’s influential, polarizing, unpredictable, and at times harsh conduct, which may touch on hate speech, according to Alcon’s statement in the lawsuit.

Elon Musk has lately shown strong support for, and even attended events supporting, the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

Critics claim that Musk enables the dissemination of false information through X, yet they also allege that he propagates conspiracy theories and makes inflammatory statements using his own platform.

If a company or its leaders don’t share Elon Musk’s controversial political and societal viewpoints, then the prospect of partnering with Tesla becomes even more complex due to potential controversy.

“Alcon did not want [Blade Runner 2049] to be affiliated with Musk, Tesla, or any Musk company, for all of these reasons.”

Alcon conjectured that the deal between Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery (of which he was not informed) may have contained a provision stipulating that Tesla’s Cybercab would be connected in some way to Warner Bros. movies.

During Tesla’s gathering, Musk guaranteed that the Cybercab will be launched “prior to 2027” and it will come with a price tag under $30,000.

For quite some time, he’s been asserting that Tesla will develop a self-driving car, yet, to this day, none of their vehicles are able to function autonomously without human supervision.

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2024-10-22 06:19