Elon Musk accused of copying designs by I, Robot director

The claims made by Proyas have been met with scepticism online, however, with some claiming his own film is derivative.

Several people replied to his post on X with images of the feminised cyborg in Fritz Lang’s German expressionist film, Metropolis, from 1927.

But it is not the first time people have queried whether tech companies look to sci-fi cinema and novels for ideas – especially as firms develop new gadgets and robotics to capitalise on interest in generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Mr Musk has previously said he was inspired by Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which features humanoid robot Marvin the Paranoid Android.

Grok, his AI chatbot “with a little humour” designed for use on X, was later revealed to be modelled on it, external.

And he has also called, external Tesla’s futuristic Cybertruck “an armoured personnel carrier from the future” that “Bladerunner would have driven”.

Meanwhile OpenAI boss Sam Altman appeared to confirm comparisons drawn between a flirty, new voice unveiled for ChatGPT and a virtual assistant played by Scarlett Johansson in the 2013 film Her in a post on X in May.

The firm removed its “Sky” voice following criticism over its similarity to Ms Johansson’s – saying it was not intended to be an “imitation”.

The actress said she was left “angered” and “shocked” at the company’s apparent use of a soundalike.