Tesla and Elon Musk are facing a lawsuit from Alcon Entertainment, which claims the automaker used AI-generated images derived from Blade Runner 2049 without obtaining the proper permissions.
The production company alleges that Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) sought approval just hours before a press event featuring the visuals. After Alcon declined, Tesla is accused of leveraging generative AI to recreate the imagery, avoiding the steep costs of licensing agreements.
Alcon’s legal filing, submitted last October, highlights the financial stakes involved. According to the complaint, a legitimate deal to feature Blade Runner 2049 visuals would have cost Tesla at least hundreds of thousands of dollars—potentially into the millions.
The filing states: “Tesla likely would have had to make significant expenditures—at least in the mid-six-figures…and possibly into the eight figures—to obtain a BR2049 brand affiliation.” Instead, by allegedly relying on AI-driven replication, Tesla avoided these expenses entirely.
The complaint, which also targets Warner Bros. Discovery, asserts that the promotional images used by Tesla were a direct infringement of Alcon’s intellectual property. The lawsuit is not limited to copyright concerns but also includes claims of false endorsement, with Alcon arguing that the unauthorized imagery created a misleading association between Tesla’s vehicles and the iconic sci-fi franchise.
Legal Maneuvers and Reactions
In response to the lawsuit, Warner Bros. Discovery has filed a motion to dismiss two of the claims: vicarious copyright infringement and false endorsement.
If granted, these claims would be removed from the case permanently. Warner Bros. argues that the allegations do not meet the necessary legal criteria, and Tesla is also expected to file its own motion to dismiss all claims. Both companies are pushing back against Alcon’s accusations, asserting that the case lacks merit.
The motion to dismiss has prompted further debate over the use of generative AI in creative industries. Alcon’s complaint points to a growing issue: how copyright laws apply when AI models can produce content closely resembling existing works.
The court’s eventual decision on this motion will set the stage for how the lawsuit proceeds and may influence future cases involving AI-generated media.
Wider Implications for AI and Creative Rights
Beyond this particular legal battle, the lawsuit highlights larger concerns about the role of AI in generating content. Generative AI, which creates new imagery or text by analyzing patterns from existing datasets, is becoming a common tool in various industries.
However, as Alcon’s lawsuit demonstrates, using such technology without proper licensing can lead to complex intellectual property disputes.
This is not the first time Tesla’s designs have drawn comparisons to science fiction. In 2024, Alex Proyas, director of I, Robot, accused Tesla of using designs that closely resembled his film’s aesthetic.
Proyas went so far as to share side-by-side comparisons online, sparking a debate over the originality of Tesla’s concept vehicles. While no legal action followed those accusations, the current lawsuit from Alcon represents a significant escalation in the scrutiny facing Tesla’s creative decisions.