Tesla lawyers are using an unusual strategy to free Elon Musk from the obligation to stand trial after a fatal 2018 crash with the company’s Model X. According to lawyers, CEO comments “not to be trusted” as they could be deepfakes.

Elon Musk is losing billions of his fortune
after a bad week at Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter

In 2018, there was a fatal crash that killed Walter Huang due to a malfunction in Tesla’s autopilot system. Lawyers for the victim’s family allege that the supporting software was faulty. During a conference in 2016, Musk stated that Model X and Model S cars had already reached the point where “they can drive autonomously more safely than a human.” The moment was recorded on YouTube (you can watch it at this link, 1 hour 19 minutes). At the time, Musk also emphasized how efficient and simple Tesla’s Autopilot was.

Curious, it is this moment, recorded in front of an audience, that lawyers call a deepfake. Musk claims he does not remember the comment, with lawyers emphasizing: “Like many public figures, he is the subject of multiple ‘deepfake’ videos and audio recordings that are intended to show him saying and doing things he never actually said and didn’t do it.”

already The judge hearing the case, Evett D. Pennypacker, said Tesla’s lawyers’ arguments are “deeply troubling.”. While the case continues to be investigated, the lawyers want to avoid having to testify to Musk in the case, so they raised the possibility of a deepfake. “Their position is, as Mr. Musk said is known and could be another target for deepfakes, his public statements are immune,” the judge commented.

remember the accident

A glitch in Tesla’s autopilot system led to a fatal crash in 2018 and killed Walter Huang while he was driving down the highway. The information indicates that the driver was already aware of the fault present in the car’s autopilot. According to reports, Huang’s Model X could become confused when the vehicle approached the left exit of a certain highway in the United States (Highway 101) while the vehicle was traveling at 110 km/h.

A Huang’s family said he even notified Tesla of the issue. and even visited Tesla’s workshop. On the other hand, the company said it had no record of Huang sharing this information. Tesla only records Huang’s report of “an issue with the GPS/navigation that caused the cruise control to not work properly”.

Tesla employees were silenced, and the company was found guilty of violating US labor laws.
The authorities ordered employees not to discuss wages and working conditions among themselves and not to file complaints with higher authorities.

Source: Bloomberg, The Verge.

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