'Blade Runner 2049' Producers Sue Elon Musk Over 'Robotaxi' Film

The Hollywood company behind “Blade Runner 2049” sued Elon Musk on Monday for copyright infringement, accusing it of illegally using images from that film to promote Tesla's new “Robotaxi.”

Alcon Entertainment, a film and television company backed by FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith, filed the suit in US District Court in Los Angeles. The complaint also names Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery as defendants, saying Alcon denied a request by Mr. Musk and the companies to use footage from “Blade Runner 2049” as part of an Oct. 10 marketing event on the Warner lot.

“He did it anyway,” the lawsuit says.

Mr Musk's live-streamed presentation – a grand unveiling of a car that Tesla says will be able to drive itself – allegedly did not use the correct “Blade Runner 2049” images. Rather, the event showcased “AI-generated images depicting scenes from 'Blade Runner 2049,' including a Ryan Gosling lookalike,” Alcon said.

The lawsuit calls the use of artificial intelligence tools to create near-identical images “a bad-faith and intentionally malicious gambit” to make the event “more attractive to a global audience and misappropriate the 'Blade Runner 2049' brand to help sell Teslas.”

Mr. Musk, Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery could not immediately be reached for comment.

According to Alcon, the episode bears a striking resemblance to the one involving actress Scarlett Johansson and artificial intelligence start-up OpenAI earlier this year. Days before it demonstrated a new virtual assistant, OpenAI requested that it license its voice for Ms. Johansson He refused.

Despite her refusal, OpenAI used a voice called “Sky” that “sounded very similar to mine,” Ms. Johansson said at the time, adding that she had hired a lawyer. OpenAI denied that it intended to copy her voice, but pulled “Sky” as a voice substitute, saying in a blog post that “AI voices should not intentionally mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice.”

“Blade Runner 2049”, a sequel, was financed and produced by Alcon and released by Warner Bros. in 2017. The movie features Mr. Gosling as a bioengineered man living in postapocalyptic America and an artificially intelligent, fully autonomous car.

According to the complaint, Alcon denied Mr. Musk's request to allow him to use images from the film due to his “highly political, humorous and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes devolves into hate speech.” Alcon also said it is in talks with other automotive brands to partner on an upcoming Amazon television series, “Blade Runner 2099,” and doesn't want to derail those talks.

Now, Alcon says in its lawsuit, “The false connection between 'Blade Runner 2049' and Tesla has irreparably tangled the global media tapestry, as all the defendants knew would inevitably happen.”