In brief
Film director Alex Proyas has accused Elon Musk of using designs from his 2004 film I, Robot in Tesla's latest innovations.
In a recent Tesla event, Elon Musk introduced a self-driving vehicle called Cybercab and displayed updates to the Optimus robots. These advancements were branded under "We, Robot," a nod to Isaac Asimov's works. The showcase drew criticism from filmmaker Alex Proyas, director of I, Robot, who accused Musk of copying the film's design features. Proyas expressed his discontent on social media, suggesting Musk's team derived their inspiration from his work. Patrick Tatopoulos, the production designer for I, Robot, echoed Proyas's sentiments, finding it ironic yet flattering. Meanwhile, online reactions to Proyas's claims have been mixed, with some noting that I, Robot itself drew from early sci-fi influences. This isn't the first instance of tech firms being accused of leaning on science fiction's visual and conceptual framework for progress in artificial intelligence and robotics. Musk himself has admitted to drawing inspiration from iconic sci-fi works.
