Elon Musk Stole designs from "I Robot"

Question

Some of the designs from the tesla presentation looked very similar to the movie I Robot, so much so that the director pointed it out on twitter. Where the designs stolen from the movie?

Elon Musk Accused of Stealing ‘I, Robot’ Designs by Film's Director (complex.com)

Alex Proyas' Accusation (x.com) 

Answer 1

First I do think that the tweet by Alex Proyas seems a little light hearted, and the only actual evidence he provided was just side by side photos of screenshots from the movie, and some Tesla concept art and photos of the new "Optimus" robots. Looking at the comments from the tweet, many people think that the irobot designs look similar to a lot of designs seen before the release of the movie, and so there's no way of actually knowing if Elon Musk directly stole the designs from that specific movie, or something else, if he even stole them at all. Also, none of the things on the right side of the comparison have actually been in production, as mentioned in the article in regards to the new Optimus robot, so the designs can (and likely will) be changed. In addition the source "Complex" doesn't seem to be an actual news site but a pop culture platform, and I can't find any information on the author.

https://www.complex.com/author/treyalston

https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/treyalston/elon-musk-alex-proyas-tesla-stealing

https://x.com/alex_proyas/status/1845426067043123632

Comments

I agree that tweets are not the most credible source of evidence for such a claim. You seem to be correct in saying that the Complex platform specializes more in pop culture than actual news. Although I do find it unfortunate that there are not many actual sources pertaining to this issue, I don't think there is enough provided evidence to support the claim.

Answer 2

After looking into the news source, I would say I have a hard time verifying that Elon Musk was proven to have stolen designs from the movie I, Robot. For one, Complex.com is not a reliable news source as they seem to be pretty left-leaning biased and share news that will catch people's attention based on what's going around in the media now. Elon Musk has been under fire for supporting Trump recently, which would explain why an article slamming him for stealing ideas would get attention. The author of the post is a freelance copywriter that does not seem to report on serious topics with dedication to sharing the truth. His article does include photograph comparisons, but there is no real evidence that any designs have been stolen other than an angry tweet from the film's directer pointing out the similarities between the two designs. There are some similar headlines from other pop culture sites like AVclub and ScreenRant, but nothing from any truly reliable sites. I would say this is likely misinformation because of a lack of evidence, but it does make an interesting theory!

Comments

I agree with you that complex.com as this news source tends to carry a lot of bias for its material while having little to no data on stolen designs as it is hard to make robotic designs distinct. I also like your connection of no reliable sources discussing this topic while complex tends to have a trend of talking about whatever is relevant.