Tesla legal professionals declare Elon Musk’s previous statements about self-driving security may simply be deepfakes

Legal professionals for automaker Tesla have argued that statements by Elon Musk in regards to the capabilities of the corporate’s Autopilot software program can’t be trusted as they might be deepfakes, in response to studies from Reuters and Bloomberg.

Tesla offered this argument as a part of its justification as to why Musk shouldn’t be interviewed below oath for a lawsuit blaming the corporate for the dying of Apple engineer Walter Huang in a deadly crash in 2018.

Huang died whereas driving a Tesla Mannequin X, with attorneys for his household arguing Tesla’s driver help software program was at fault. The attorneys search to interview Musk relating to statements he made in regards to the security of this software program. These embrace an interview in 2016 during which Musk claimed that “a Mannequin S and Mannequin X, at this level, can drive autonomously with higher security than an individual.” (You’ll be able to watch Musk making this assertion in a YouTube video right here.)

Per Reuters, Tesla’s legal professionals acknowledged that Musk couldn’t recall particulars about such claims and that, “like many public figures, is the topic of many ‘deepfake’ movies and audio recordings that purport to indicate him saying and doing issues he by no means truly stated or did.”

However the decide within the case stated this argument by Tesla’s legal professionals was “deeply troubling.”

“Their place is that as a result of Mr. Musk is legendary and is perhaps extra of a goal for deep fakes, his public statements are immune,” wrote Santa Clara County Superior Courtroom Decide Evette D. Pennypacker. “In different phrases, Mr. Musk, and others in his place, can merely say no matter they like within the public area, then conceal behind the potential for his or her recorded statements being a deep faux to keep away from taking possession of what they did truly say and do.”

Decide Evette Pennypacker tentatively ordered that Musk give a restricted, three-hour deposition about these statements. Reuters notes that “California judges typically difficulty tentative rulings, that are nearly all the time finalized with few main adjustments after such a listening to.” A listening to is scheduled for Thursday to finalize the deposition and the lawsuit is ready to enter trial on July 31.