Blade Runner 2049 producers sue Elon Musk over cybercab images

An image shown during Tesla’s We, Robot event

Tesla / YouTube Screen grab from Tesla robotaxi launch event, which shows a figure on the right of the image looking over an orange-hued dystopian-looking city skyline. — An image shown during Tesla’s We, Robot event

The maker of the film Blade Runner 2049 has sued Tesla, Elon Musk and Warner Bros Discovery, alleging they used imagery from the movie without permission.

Production firm Alcon Entertainment claims it had specifically denied a request from Warner Bros to use material from the film at the launch event for Tesla’s long-awaited robotaxi.

Alcon alleges that despite its refusal Tesla and the other organisers of the event on 10 October used artificial intelligence (AI) to create promotional imagery based on the film.

Tesla and Warner Bros did not immediately reply to requests for comment from BBC News.

The “financial magnitude of the misappropriation here was substantial,” the lawsuit said.

“Any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicised, capricious and arbitrary behaviour, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account,” it added.

Alcon also accused the event organisers of “false endorsement” by suggesting a connection between the production company and Tesla.

Warner Bros, which hosted the robotaxi launch event at one of its movie studios, was also the distributor of Blade Runner 2049 when it was released in 2017.

The highly-anticipated sequel to the 1982 cyberpunk classic Blade Runner, starred Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas and Jared Leto, and won two Academy Awards.