'I, Robot' Director Accuses Elon Musk of Ripping Off His Designs

Elon Musk unveiled the latest iteration of his "Optimus" robots at a flashy Tesla event last week, in which he also revealed his long-awaited Cybercabs and never-before-seen 20-person driverless Robovan. And after images of the prototypes hit a skeptical internet, I, Robot director Alex Proyas pointed out that Musk's new robots perhaps look a little too familiar.

Proyas directed the 2004 sci-fi action film, named after the 1950 short-story collection by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. Set in 2035 Chicago, the film stars Will Smith as a homicide detective distrustful of humanoid robots that have been created to serve humanity. It's worth pointing out that at the Tesla invitation-only event, Musk had his robots serving up drinks and playing rock-paper-scissors with guests.

As one social media account pointed out, the influence of the movie on Musk's latest creations was not subtle, including not just the bots but the new vehicles as well. (The robots themselves are also named after the Transformers character with the same name.) Not to mention, Musk literally named his event "We, Robot."

It seems perhaps a little on the nose to name your AI-based event after a film warning of the dangers of artificial intelligence, but when has that ever stopped Musk before. In either case, Proyas didn't hold back when pointing out the alleged counterfeiting, firing off a post on Musk's own X platform: "Hey Elon, Can I have my designs back please?"

However, the jab was restrained compared to filmmaker Matt Granger, who worked as an assistant to Proyas on I, Robot. Per The Hollywood Reporter, in an X post that no longer exists (though it's unclear whether it was deleted or removed), Granger certainly did not mince words, firing off: "I too wish to offer my full-fingered 'f--k you' to Elon and his utter lack of creativity."