Whether you like them or not, Elon Musk certainly seems to have some futuristic design ideas for his Tesla products. His designs often scream sci-fi, and people who are into this stuff tend to appreciate what the company brings to the table with some of the product designs, be it the popular Cybertruck or the recently released Cybercab.
However, the director of the famous Will Smith starrer I, Robot movie, Alex Proyas, feels those ideas were not all that original at all and that they have been copied from his film.
In case you may not have followed, Tesla recently held its "We, Robot" event, during which it unveiled several futuristic-looking additions to its lineup, including Robovan, Robotaxi (also called the Cybercab), and the Optimus robot.
After the event, the Australian director published some side-by-side images of Tesla products and some of the elements in his film trying to draw attention to the apparent resemblance of the products:
Hey Elon, Can I have my designs back please? #ElonMusk #Elon_Musk pic.twitter.com/WPgxHevr6E
— Alex Proyas (@alex_proyas) October 13, 2024
Proyas also posted the image on Instagram with the caption, "Anyone think I have a legal case?" although it is likely he did it casually to be humorous and is not actually looking for pointers for taking Elon Musk to court over these alleged inspirations.
In the post, though, he seemed to take digs at Musk, stating that "Elon Musk, on the other hand, has a not so talented design team who watched a lot of movies, including I, Robot, it seems," but Proyas, in contrast, worked with a "very talented design team."
Some netizens, however, pointed out that Proyas" film itself was probably drawing inspiration from 1927"s Metropolis:
Ahem *clears throat*
— Mercer 🏴 (@LudwigvonMercer) October 14, 2024
The original humanoid robot From Metropolis, Art Deco era locomotives, and the 1939 Duesenberg Coupe would all like a word. pic.twitter.com/lPwzIAXnl1
Curiously, the Tesla event title name seemingly drew inspiration from I, Robot itself, and thus it can be said that both the movie and the Tesla products borrowed a bit from the original Issac Asimov novel.