Blade Runner 2049 producers sued Elon Musk, Tesla and Warner over AI generated image used in Cybercab promotion event

Alcon Entertainment, the production company behind Blade Runner 2049, is suing Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery is being sued for allegedly using AI-generated images based on Blade Runner 2049 in a Tesla Cybercab promotional event. The suit, which is available via Variety claims that the defendants chose the AI image because Alcon "refused to grant any permissions and adamantly opposed Defendants' suggestion of any affiliation between BR2049, Tesla, Musk, or any Musk owned company."

Tesla's We, Robot was met with some backlash in the past over the presence Tesla robots, which were portrayed as AI-driven and self-driven but were most likely controlled by humans. This is a much more serious matter: The lawsuit claims that Tesla asked Alcon for permission to use a screen still from Blade Runner 2049 at the event. When Alcon refused, it fed images from the movie into an AI image maker, along with instructions "to make a lightly stylized fake screenshot from BR2049."

Musk made a direct reference to the film in his opening remarks. "I love Blade Runner but I don't think we want that future," he stated. "I think that we want the duster he is wearing, but not a bleak apocalypse."

The lawsuit states that "Musk awkwardly tried to explain why he showed the audience a photo of BR2049 while he was supposed be talking about his product."

"He had no plausible reason. Musk ostensibly asked the global audience to consider the Cybercab's potential in comparison to BR2049, a fictional future. It all reeked of a thinly veiled attempt to link Tesla's Cybercab with strong Hollywood brands, at a time where Tesla and Musk have been on the outs in Hollywood. Which is, of course, exactly what it was."

The lawsuit also states that Blade Runner is the only Hollywood film to be used for the Cybercab promotion, even though Warner owns the rights to the Mad Max films. The suit claims that any of these would have been better if the point was to illustrate an incredibly bleak future we'd rather avoid. I think this is reasonable. But that wasn't the point: The suit alleges that the entire point was to make BR2049 more attractive to the global market and to misappropriate its brand to help Teslas sell.

Musk's "highly politicized, capricious, and arbitrary behavior" which can sometimes degenerate into hate speech, is what makes things worse for Alcon. Alcon claims in the lawsuit that they did not want to associate with Musk or his businesses because of their behavior. This is why they not only refused to allow the use of Blade Runner material, but also "expressly and clearly objected" to any implied or express BR2049 association with the event.

It's now caught up in the tangle, with thousands of re-posts. The suit states that "the false affiliation between BR2049, Tesla and the global media is irreparably entangled into the global media tapestry."

Tesla allegedly wanted this Blade Runner 2049 Tesla to use for its We, Robot presentation.

This is the final presentation.

The suit claims that the use of this image is "massive theft of economic resources" not only due to the fees lost for this "unauthorized association", but also because "it muddied the water" for potential brand partnerships based upon the upcoming Blade Runner 2049 television series.

The lawsuit requests that all copies of the materials using the image, as well as "related records and documents", be impounded by court and an injunction issued against further use. Alcon also wants damages, disgorgement of profit, legal fees and "other and further relief that the Court may deem appropriate."

It's not the first time that a Musk company has been sued in recent years for doing whatever it wants, without regard to consequences. In September, Cards Against Humanity sued SpaceX for trespassing and destroying its land "with gravel, tractors and space garbage." In a similar case to this, SpaceX made a "lowball" offer for permission to use land, and when CAH declined, it used it anyway.

I've contacted Tesla for a comment and will update this post if I get a response.