Elon Musk has been ordered to be interviewed beneath oath to find out if he made particular statements about Tesla's Autopilot characteristic after the carmaker threw their authenticity into doubt, saying the billionaire was typically a goal of on-line "deepfakes".

A choose in California made the tentative ruling after elevating issues that such arguments might be utilized by Musk - and different high-profile celebrities - to "avoid taking ownership" of their public statements.

The "deepfake" declare was made by legal professionals for Musk's agency whereas defending a lawsuit introduced over the security of Tesla's driver help system.

The household of Walter Huang are suing the corporate at Santa Clara Superior Court over a automobile crash that killed the Apple engineer in 2018.

Mr Huang's household argues Tesla's partially-automated driving software program failed.

However, the carmaker contends the engineer was taking part in a videogame on his cellphone earlier than the crash and disregarded automobile warnings.

Lawyers for Mr Huang's household have pointed to Musk touting the security of the Autopilot characteristic - together with a 2016 assertion by which he allegedly mentioned that Tesla's Model S and Model X autos "can drive autonomously with greater safety than a person".

Musk's legal professionals say the entrepreneur can't recall particulars about statements and have argued that "like many public figures, [he] is the subject of many 'deepfake' videos and audio recordings that purport to show him saying and doing things he never actually said or did".

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However, the choose presiding over the lawsuit, Evette Pennypacker, questioned Tesla's argument, which she described as "deeply troubling".

"Their position is that because Mr Musk is famous and might be more of a target for deepfakes, his public statements are immune," Judge Pennypacker wrote.

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She added that such arguments would permit him and different well-known individuals "to avoid taking ownership of what they did actually say and do".

Judge Pennypacker tentatively ordered a restricted, three-hour deposition, the place Musk might be requested whether or not hetruly made the statements on the recording.

What is a deepfake?

A deepfake often entails a picture or video by which an individual or object is visually or audibly manipulated to say and do one thing that's fabricated.

They have been used to create pretend movies of Barack Obama calling Donald Trump a "complete dips**t" and Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg bragging about having "complete control" of individuals's knowledge.

Deepfakes have additionally been used to create pretend pornographic pictures of celebrities.

And there are issues that they might be used to create mass panic or affect elections by creating pretend movies of politicians.

Some international locations are even making an attempt to crackdown on deepfakes. In England and Wales, proposals have been put ahead to make the creation of pornographic deepfakes with out consent a legal offence.

The pictures are made utilizing AI expertise - although specialists are additionally making an attempt to make use of AI to deal with deepfakes by making expertise that may extra simply pick-out reality from fiction.

California judges typically subject tentative rulings, that are nearly at all times finalised with few main modifications after such a listening to.

The lawsuit is scheduled to enter trial on 31 July.

It comes after a California state court docket jury on Friday discovered Tesla's Autopilot characteristic didn't fail in what seemed to be the primary trial associated to a crash involving the partially automated driving software program.