Did Elon Musk steal director Alex Proyas' designs from I, Robot?

Hollywood filmmaker Alex Proyas has called out Tesla's co-founder and CEO Elon Musk for stealing designs from his 2004 sci-fi action film I, Robot.

“Hey Elon, Can I have my designs back please,” he tweeted on Sunday night, sharing a collage of images from his film and Musk’s We, Robot campaign launched last week.

The director’s collage included images of the film’s police force next to a bunch of Tesla's humanoid Optimus robots, cars and buses in the film next to Robovan and a futuristic car from the film next to Musk's Cybercab.

On Thursday, Musk shared a sneak peek into what Tesla has been working on – car models with self-driving prototypes: the Cybercab and the Robovan, at the event in Los Angeles.

“It will be an electric, autonomous vehicle roughly the size of a bus, designed for transporting people around high-density areas. It will carry up to 20 people at a time and also transport goods,” Musk said speaking on the prototype of the Robovan at the event.

A new Tesla robot Optimus was seen serving drinks and engaging with the crowd at the event. It is also designed to dance, water plants and babysit.

So far Musk has not responded to Proyas but fans of both men have been left wondering whether the striking similarities between Tesla’s new designs and Proyas’ creations are coincidental or a case of artistic borrowing.

The conversation surrounding Tesla’s robot and vehicle designs continues to fuel discussions across social media platforms, keeping the controversy alive.

Proyas’ film I, Robot is set in Chicago and stars Will Smith as a technophobic cop in 2035 who is investigating a crime that may have been perpetrated by a robot (member of the autonomous police force) named Sonny. The film is inspired by the famous science fiction author Isaac Asimov’s 1950 short-story collection.

Proyas is best known for The Crow (1994) starring Brandon Lee, Dark City (1998) and Knowing (2009).

In the last couple of years, the director has been writing about AI and the film industry for his Patreon account. He is currently working on another sci-fi film R.U.R, based on Karel Capek’s famous play.