Elon Musk: Always A Douche

[Tamas]

What a manchild: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/sep/26/elon-musk-uk-government-invite-tech-summit

[garbon]

I think I'm adopting this Pelosi approach to all this nonsense.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/nancy-pelosi-cnn-jake-tapper-trump-harris-b2618714.html

'Why would you even cover that?' Pelosi snaps at CNN's Jake Tapper over Trump's comments about Harris

...

During The Lead on Tuesday night, Jake Tapper triggered the Democratic lawmaker by playing a clip of Trump accusing Kamala Harris of having more "cognitive problems" than President Joe Biden.

"Why would you even cover that?" Pelosi fired back. "This is a person who is not on the level. He is their nominee for president. He is incompetent."

...

Pelosi hit out at Trump over the comments – and at Tapper for amplifying them.

"Let's not even talk about the silliness of it all, and the weirdness of it all and the assault on women that it is. We're not going to talk issues. Incompetent," she fumed.

[Sheilbh]

She's right. Trump's comments are always news, they're rarely newsworthy - and editorial functions in the press should be making that distinction.

[Tamas]

She's right. Trump's comments are always news, they're rarely newsworthy - and editorial functions in the press should be making that distinction.

Indeed. They have already won them the 2016 election, let's not gift him the 2024 one as well.

[Zanza]

Tesla had a show where they presented the "cybercab", a "robovan" (a bus) and their humanoid robot, working as a barkeeper serving beer. The first two seemed impractical and with timelines that put them way behind Waymo or Baidu. Musk started talking about this in 2016, timeline now is 2027, but could be later.
The robot was apparently again controlled by humans.

Musk sells Tesla as a AI and robotics company that also makes cars (and solar/energy systems), but right now cars are 95% of the revenue. For a traditional car company their product pipeline looks very dire. Semi, roadster, cybertruck are niche, their other models are fairly old by now.

[Zanza]

Unlike the underwhelming Tesla presentation, SpaceX landing the booster was pretty spectacular.

[Sheilbh]

Unlike the underwhelming Tesla presentation, SpaceX landing the booster was pretty spectacular.

Yeah that was pretty extraordinary.

One of those things that felt very sci-fi.

[crazy canuck]

Not sure if this is a Musk or US election thread story.  The NYTimes is reporting concern in the Trump campaign that Trump had handed over the job of organizing the ground game to get the vote out to Musk.  The cause of the concern is that Musk is at best naive about how to do that.  And Musk is making it all about himself.  We could have told them that would happen.

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000009755642/elon-musk-is-going-all-in-to-elect-donald-trump.html?smid=url-share

[Josquius]

He's being promoted fast. I recall reading just last week he was given this job in Pennsylvania specifically.

[crazy canuck]

He's being promoted fast. I recall reading just last week he was given this job in Pennsylvania specifically.

Yeah, I was reading about how disorganized the Trumpist ground game is, so perhaps they have no other option?

[Admiral Yi]

Elon has donated 75 million to a Trump PAC.

[Grey Fox]

His own PAC.

[Zanza]

Their inevitable eventual fallout will be epic.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Trump is the old fool who will make the USA an even better place for oligarchs.

[viper37]

'Blade Runner 2049' Producer Sues Elon Musk's Tesla, Warner Bros. Discovery Over AI Images

The lawsuit accuses Musk of creating AI-generated promotional materials to promote Tesla's cybercab robotaxi. 

A production company for Blade Runner 2049 has sued Tesla, which allegedly fed images from the movie into an artificial intelligence image generator to create unlicensed promotional materials.
Alcon Entertainment, in a lawsuit filed Monday in California federal court, accuses Elon Musk and his autonomous vehicle company of misappropriating the movie's brand to promote its robotaxi at a glitzy unveiling earlier this month. The producer says it doesn't want Blade Runner 2049 to be affiliated with Musk because of his "extreme political and social views," pointing to ongoing efforts with potential partners for an upcoming TV series. 

The complaint, which brings claims for copyright infringement and false endorsement, also names Warner Bros. Discovery for allegedly facilitating the partnership.

"Any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk's massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account," states the complaint. "Alcon did not want BR2049 to be affiliated with Musk."

Tesla partnered with Warners for the robotaxi showcase, which was done from a studio lot, the lawsuit says. At the presentation, Musk reached the stage in a "cybercab" before showing an image of a male figure wearing a trench coat as he surveys the abandoned ruins of a city bathed in a misty, orange light. In the upper left corner, the words "Not This" appear superimposed on part of the sky.

This image was "clearly intended to read visually" as an actual still from Blade Runner 2049′s iconic sequence of Ryan Gosling's character exploring a ruined Las Vegas. Alcon claims it was created by copying images from the film and prompting an AI image generator for a replica over the company's clear denial of licensing rights.

Musk directly referenced the Denis Villeneuve sci-fi epic in his remarks. "You know, I love Blade Runner, but I don't know if we want that future," he said. "I believe we want that duster he's wearing, but not the, uh, not the bleak apocalypse."

The lawsuit cites an agreement, the details of which are unknown to Alcon, for Warners to lease or license studio lot space, access and other materials to Tesla for the event. Alcon alleges that the deal included promotional elements allowing Tesla to affiliate its products with WBD movies.

WBD was Alcon's domestic distributor for the 2017 release of Blade Runner 2049. It has limited clip licensing rights, though not for Tesla's livestream TV event, the lawsuit claims. Alcon says it wasn't informed about the brand deal until the day of the unveiling.

According to the complaint, Musk communicated to WBD that he wanted to associate the robotaxi with the film. He asked the company for permission to use a still directly from the movie, which prompted an employee to send an emergency request for clearance to Alcon since international rights would be involved, the lawsuit says. The producer refused, spurring the creation of the AI images.  

"All of the Defendants participated in its creation, and in its display in the presentation at the event, from a WBDI-owned building and studio lot, on WBDI-owned video screens and otherwise using WBDI-owned technology infrastructure, operated by or in conjunction with Tesla employees, all acting in whole or in part subject to the direction and control of Musk," the complaint states.

Alcon seeks unspecified damages, as well as a court order barring Tesla from further distributing the disputed promotional materials.

He loved the movie, but he now discovers that it sucked:
Link to manchild latest, meaningless statement

I think I understand more his association with Trump.