Movies Science Fiction Movies

I, Robot Director Alex Proyas Accuses Elon Musk Of Stealing Designs At Tesla

I, Robot, Will Smith 20th Century Studios
By Jeremy Mathai

Science fiction has always been a genre meant to inspire and caution us in equal measure, and 2004's "I, Robot" is no exception. Taking place in the year 2035 in a future where self-driving cars are the norm, legions of robots have taken over menial tasks, and Converse All-Star sneakers are still as fresh as ever, director Alex Proyas' messy action movie was a solid hit upon release and has aged surprisingly well — particularly as our own reality has taken larger and larger steps toward a similar status quo. One can easily imagine Will Smith's old-school cop Del Spooner looking at our own reality and stubbornly rolling his eyes at our own acceptance of and overreliance on AI. Sure, we're not quite at the level of technological advancement that Proyas and writers Jeff Vintar and Akiva Goldsman envisioned (to say nothing of famed author Isaac Asimov himself, who wrote the various books that the movie pulls from), but we're not terribly far off, either.

Now, if only we had better and more creative technological visionaries leading the way. In a peak example of truth genuinely being stranger than fiction, "I, Robot" has once again been thrust into the spotlight ... but for the silliest of reasons. If any individual actually believes they're the one to lead us into this version of the future, it'd be Elon Musk. The public figure is no stranger to grand ambitions, having taken over companies such as SpaceX, Tesla, and even X (formerly known as Twitter) while promising to take humanity to the "next step." Instead of colonies on Mars, self-driving cars safely taking over our roadways, and a social media platform that's a haven for free speech, however, we're instead stuck with three controversial businesses with a laundry list of problems and a rogue billionaire who seems to think he's Tony Stark.

Well, let's just say Iron Man wasn't the one accused of blatantly ripping off designs from much smarter people. In a new tweet, Proyas mockingly called out Musk for stealing various designs from "I, Robot" and it's hard to argue with him. Musk's transformation into Justin Hammer is well and truly complete, folks.

Elon Musk's latest Tesla designs look awfully familiar...

I, Robot 20th Century Studios

Oh, the delicious irony. Perhaps the most famous scene from "I, Robot" that constantly goes viral to this day would be that moment between Will Smith's cynical detective and the hyper-intelligent robot Sonny (voiced and mo-capped by Alan Tudyk) where the two debate the nuances of art, inspiration, and creativity. So, naturally, it stands to reason that Elon Musk took notice of the dazzling visuals from the 2004 movie, stored them away in the back of his head, and then shamelessly copied them when it came time to design various prototypes at Tesla. Recently, Musk's car company unveiled a series of far-fetched concepts at an event literally called "We, Robot," ranging from autonomous bartending robots (which weren't so "autonomous," after all), a new "Cybercab" taxi, and a "Robovan" — all of which looked brazenly similar to their counterparts in "I, Robot." Check out Proyas' tweet below, which was accompanied by his zinger, "Hey Elon, Can I have my designs back please?" and quickly went viral:

Of course, given Proyas' well-established history of having absolutely no filter at all (most recently taking issue with the remake of "The Crow"), it's no surprise that the outspoken filmmaker would wade into this debate guns blazing. It helps that he certainly has a valid case here and setting the record straight on how derivative Musk's "innovative" designs have always been. With apologies to all the Cybertruck owners out there, instances like this aren't doing any favors to those ugly-looking death traps. On the bright side, the rest of us can have fun guessing which random sci-fi movie from the last 20 years Musk will try to rip off next.

Recommended