Elon Musk recently unveiled what he called his “most significant” creation: Tesla Optimus, the humanoid Robot that he claimed can “do anything“. The release came along with Tesla’s Cybercab and Robovan futuristic self-driving prototypes at a party on Thursday. The endlessly chatty Optimus robot was seen dispensing drinks and schmoozing the guests at the party.
While guests and fans were in awe of the vision Elon Musk held of the future, there is one person he didn’t quite impress: ‘I, Robot‘ director Alex Proyas. Proyas has claimed that Musk has copied the robot designs that he used in his film released back in 2004.
‘I, Robot’ Director Alex Proyas Calls Out Elon Musk For Copying
Just days after Elon Musk boasted his Optimus Robot at a party, ‘I, Robot‘ director Alex Proyas took to social media to call out the tech mogul for copying his designs. Proyas posted on Musk’s go-to platform, X, throwing some digital shade.
Hey Elon, Can I have my designs back please? #ElonMusk #Elon_Musk pic.twitter.com/WPgxHevr6E
— Alex Proyas (@alex_proyas) October 13, 2024
“Hey Elon, Can I have my designs back please?” Proyas wrote in his caption, along with photos showing side-by-side comparisons of robots from his film and Elon Musk’s Optimus. Tesla’s Optimus bore an uncanny resemblance to the robots from ‘I, Robot‘, while the Robovan also looked suspiciously like the transport vehicles in the 2004 film.
And then there’s the Cybercab, which Proyas has said could’ve rolled right out of his futuristic Chicago set in 2035.
‘I, Robot’ Featured A Robot Very Similar To Elon Musk’s Optimus
The 2004 film, ‘I, Robot‘, starring Will Smith was an adaptation of the work of Isaac Asimov’s famous collection of short stories set in a world where robots operate under the famous Three Laws of Robotics. Law one: a robot may not harm a human. Law two: it must obey a human unless this conflicts with law one. And then there is law three: it should protect itself, but only if that does not violate the other two laws. Sounds sufficiently straightforward, doesn’t it?
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Things get haywire when a detective, played by Smith, who detests robots, has to solve a murder that would probably have been attributed to one of these seemingly “harmless” machines. While Proyas is tight these days working on ‘R.U.R.’, his next sci-fi project, he’s been as vocal as ever about his take on AI and what this might mean for the film industry at large.
Thursday’s unveiling wasn’t any indication of his being done with the conversation at all, but if this is just the beginning of Elon Musk borrowing from Proyas’ global playbook, then he’s got a lot more to say.
