Elon’s Lawyers Tried to Say His Overly Bold Self-Driving Claims Were Deepfakes
Tesla lawyers earlier this year got caught in possibly the highest profile case of attorneys attempting to write off legitimate video evidence as a potential deepfake. Relatives of a man who died while using his Tesla’s self-driving feature referenced a 2016 video of Musk claiming his vehicles could drive autonomously “with greater safety than a person,” as evidence the CEO’s past statements oversold the technology’s capabilities. Tesla’s defense tried to argue in court that it couldn’t admit or deny the authenticity of Musk’s public statements because he’s the frequent subject of deepfaked videos.
The judge in the case, Evette Pennypacker, fiercely condemned Tesla’s “deeply troubling” obfuscation and warned arguments like that threatened to do long-lasting damage to the legal system if followed to their logical conclusion.
“Their position is that because Mr. Musk is famous and might be more of a target for deep fakes, his public statements are immune,” Pennypacker said. “The Court is unwilling to set such a precedent by condoning Tesla’s approach here.”
