Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has hit back at threats of legal action from Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom over his use of memes and deepfakes.
What happened: Governor Newsom denied that he had any intention of suppressing the parody and made it clear that he was coming down hard on Musk.
His statement came after days of escalating conflict between the two men, which began after Newsom signed tough legislation banning political “deep fakes” earlier this week.
Musk accused Newsom of trying to ban parody after the governor passed three bills aimed at restricting the use of AI to create fake images for videos and political ads.
“I think Musk missed the punch line. Parody is still alive and well in California, but deepfakes and election manipulation undermine the integrity and trust of our democracy and institutions.”
See also: Mark Cuban says he wants to buy Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News and Elon Musk’s X, but there are some obstacles: ‘If we had enough money… we’d buy them in a heartbeat’
When asked if he planned to file a lawsuit against Musk, Governor Newsom said, “The law provides that many people can seek injunctive relief. I just signed the law and haven’t had a chance to look at specific lawsuits involving conservative bloggers who may be aggrieved by our laws.”
Musk responded to Newsom’s potential legal action on social media with one word: “Awesome.”
When ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood shared the same video and called it “unconstitutional,” Musk agreed, saying, “You’re absolutely right, but they couldn’t stop it.”
Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech trends delivered to your email.
Why it matters: Musk has faced accusations that he manipulated the platform to prioritize his own posts and suspended the accounts of journalists who report on him.
Following Musk’s actions, several major advertisers pulled their ads from X.
Meanwhile, the misuse of AI to create deepfakes is on the rise, raising concerns: Previous research by Google’s DeepMind showed that deepfakes of politicians and celebrities are more prevalent than AI-enabled cyberattacks.
Earlier this year, OpenAI and Microsoft’s AI image generation tools were linked to an election misinformation scandal.
In January 2024, deepfake incidents involving prominent figures such as Taylor Swift and President Joe Biden raised concerns at the White House.
The law, signed by Governor Newsom, also came after Musk drew attention in July when he shared an AI-generated election video mocking Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Follow this link to see more Consumer Tech coverage from Benzinga.
Read next:
Disclaimer: This content was produced in part with collaboration from Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
Market news and data provided by Benzinga API
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.