‘This Ends Bad’: Elon Musk Sparks Outrage From Director of ‘I, Robot’ Who Calls CEO a Thief Over Designs of Tesla’s Controversial New Cybercab
Elon Musk is getting called out for claims he’s stolen someone else’s work. The co-founder and CEO of Tesla was recently challenged by “I, Robot” director Alex Proyas. Confronting Musk on his own purchased app, X, Proyas tweeted, “Hey Elon, Can I have my designs back please? #ElonMusk #Elon_Musk.”
Below the caption, Proyas added a collage originally put together by Screen Thrill’s social media team. The collage showed comparisons between three designs in “I, Robot” and three new concept models of Musk’s Tesla line side by side to show the striking resemblance.
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – MAY 27: Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, participates in a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center on May 27, 2020 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley were scheduled to be the first people since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 to be launched into space from the United States, but the launch was postponed due to bad weather. (Photo by Saul Martinez/Getty Images)
In the first row, it showed “I, Robot” robotic police force on the left and Musk’s Optimus robots on the right. The next row had a futuristic truck next to the Tesla Robovan, and the collage lastly showed the futuristic vehicles used in “I, Robot” adjacent to Musk’s Cybercab.
The notice in similarities comes just days after Musk presented the prototypes to fans. At the event, Musk reportedly arrived in a Cybercab while the Optimus robot served drinks, talked to guests, and made dance moves.
On stage, Musk spoke proudly of his inventions and the future that awaits them. He said, “We’ll move from supervised full self-driving to unsupervised full self-driving, where you can fall asleep and wake up at your destination. It’s going to be a glorious future.”
The Cybercabs will not have a steering wheel, nor will they have pedals.
Musk has yet to respond, but it may be difficult for him to deny the similarities, especially when he has a tab on the Tesla website called “We, Robot,” which gives a glimpse of the Robotaxi, the Robovan, and the Tesla bot.
(Screenshot: Tesla.com)
Fans reacted to the comparisons on Screen Thrill’s page. One person said, “Guy watched iRobot once and said, lemme copy that real quick,” and another said, “Did Elon not finish the movie? This ends bad.”
In “I, Robot,” the year is 2035 and Will Smith’s character investigates a murder it is believe was committed by one of the highly intelligent robots. That is when the realization hits that the robots may be a threat to humanity.
Other fans who felt Proyas was reaching with his allegation against Musk also commented.
“The six year old who drew them is asking the same question of you,” said one fan, while another wrote, “Haha, you should be honoured. He has made them real life.”
Production for the Cybercabs will begin in 2026, and Musk claims that the “unsupervised full self-driving” vehicles will be safer than those driven by humans today.
“It’ll save lives,” he said. “Like, a lot of lives, and prevent injuries. I think we’ll see autonomous cars become ten times safer than a human.”