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, full with winged doorways and no steering wheel or pedals, and a brand new take a look at its Optimus robots.
However the “We, Robotic” showcase, enjoying 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 submit on X.
“Hey Elon, can I’ve my designs again please,” Proyas mentioned in a submit seen 6.4 million instances.
Permit Twitter content material?
The Australian movie director mentioned he had labored with a “very gifted design staff” to create the movie’s visuals in a response to somebody querying their very own originality in a remark on an Instagram submit.
“Elon Musk alternatively has a not so gifted design staff who watched plenty 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 facet by facet in his personal submit on Instagram.
“Possibly 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 approach it’s enjoyable to observe,” he added.
Paranoid Android
The claims made by Proyas have been met with scepticism on-line, nevertheless, with some claiming his personal movie is spinoff.
A number of folks replied to his submit on X with photographs 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 firms look to sci-fi cinema and novels for concepts – particularly as corporations 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 bit humour” designed to be used on X, was later revealed to be modelled on it.
And he has additionally known as Tesla’s futuristic Cybertruck “an armoured personnel provider 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 submit on X in Might.
The agency eliminated its “Sky” voice following criticism over its similarity to Ms Johansson’s – saying it was not meant to be an “imitation”.
The actress mentioned she was left “angered” and “shocked” on the firm’s obvious use of a soundalike.
