Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled a trio of robotic prototypes at a Tesla event in Burbank, California. These included a self-driving robotaxi, an autonomous Robovan, and “Optimus,” a humanoid robot.
Optimus has been in development at Tesla for over three years. Optimus can walk, use its hands, and learn basic tasks.
Social media users were quick to point out the resemblance to robots from the 2004 sci-fi film I, Robot.
Even Alex Proyas, the director of I, Robot, noted the striking resemblance between Tesla’s new robots and those in his film.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Proyas posted, “Hey Elon, Can I have my designs back please?” alongside a side-by-side comparison of the robots from I, Robot and Tesla’s prototypes.
The 2004 Oscar-nominated sci-fi thriller I, Robot, follows Detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) as he investigates a suspicious murder that may involve a robotic police officer in a world where human-like androids have become a part of everyday life.
Musk, who is no stranger to sounding off on social media, has remained unusually quiet—even after Proyas called him out.
It would be hard for Musk to completely deny any connection between his robot fleet and I, Robot considering the event used “We, Robot” as a phrase in Tesla’s marketing. The Tesla event even stylized with the same comma after ‘We,’ mirroring the title of I, Robot.
Another AI-Threat
Tesla isn’t the only tech company borrowing ideas from sci-fi.
OpenAI faced backlash earlier this year when its AI voice assistant “Sky” was said to sound suspiciously like Scarlett Johansson’s character in the movie Her, sparking legal questions about privacy and consent around using people’s likenesses.
Making matters worse, Johansson reportedly declined to lend her voice to OpenAI when approached by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
When Sky was released, Johansson was surprised to find one of the voice options sounded a lot like hers. She threatened legal action, OpenAI willingly removed the voice from its systems, but the company also posted a blog in which they say”
“The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to resemble hers. We cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused using Sky’s voice in our products. We are sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didn’t communicate better.”
Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI
These incidents have sparked debates about intellectual property and AI ethics, as well as concerns about voice cloning in the age of artificial intelligence.
In other words, Elon is hardly the first to borrow ideas, and perhaps, even inspiration from sci-fi movies and literature in the development of new technologies.
These are some real-world examples about how sometimes, life imitates art.
The content in this article is based on publicly available information and statements made on social media. This article is intended for informative purposes only and does not imply any confirmed infringement or legal violation by the entities or individuals mentioned.
