Over the weekend , crosswalk footer signals in the backyard of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk werehackedto play voices imitating their likeness . But they were not exactly kind to the billionaire , instead offering a commentary on the deepen polarisation and distrust of the two loss leader who have become more influential than ever in today ’s company and Washington in particular .
In one video recording carry to TikTok , after the crosswalk button is pressed , it set about to say , “ It ’s normal to feel uncomfortable or even violate as we forcefully sneak in AI into every facet of your witting experience . ” It continues , “ I just desire to assure you , you do n’t need to worry because there ’s absolutely nothing you may do to break off it . ”
Meta has been bear on AI heavily , inserting “ Meta AI ” buttons into search boxes across its apps and kick upstairs the idea ofinteracting with AI characterstailored to a drug user ’s interests in lieu of real humans . late surveying by YouGov found44 % of Americans are skeptical of AIover fear rank from intrusion of personal privacy to the spread of misleading videos or deepfakes . But companies like Meta are betting that AI will enable more hoi polloi to produce content online and intercommunicate with friends .

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♬ original speech sound – rose
“ Hi this is Elon Musk , ” begins another . “ Welcome to Palo Alto , the home of Tesla engineering . You hump the saying ‘ money ca n’t grease one’s palms felicity , ’ I pretend that ’s rightful . God knows I ’ve tried , but it can buy a Cybertruck and that ’s pretty demented , good ? ” After a pause , the crossing audio continues , “ Fuck I ’m so alone ” to an eruption of laughter in the screen background .

Officials for Redwood City , California , toldPalo Alto Onlinethat it was “ actively work to inquire and correct the issue as quickly as possible . ” Comments on social metier suggest the trouble appear to have been resolve by Monday .
The seller that make believe the voice - enabled crosswalk is reportedly a company called Polara , which offers walker sign buttons that cancommunicate with crosswalk signalsover Bluetooth .
Hacking the audio signals puts the blind and otherwise impaired in some danger , but at least it seems the cyberpunk kept all the necessary alarum in place — the vocalism of Zuckerberg and Musk diddle after the signals are understand . On the flip side , however , hearing these voice in special might induce someone to walk into oncoming traffic .

Palo Alto was recently thesite of protestsagainst Musk and Tesla over his political dream that have made the electric car brand toxic to its original client base . While many hoi polloi may think of Fremont , California or Austin , Texas as Tesla ’s home , its engineering base isstill concentrated in Palo Altowhere the company was founded back in 2003 .
Americans ’ views of both executive tilt more negative than positive , with a recent poll byPew Research Centerfinding that just over half of U.S. adult view Musk unfavorably , while a whopping 67 % dislike Zuckerberg . Musk , at least , is well - like by Republicans with 73 % favorability for his alignment with President Trump . Zuckerberg is not beloved by either party . perchance the populace sees through his frontal and knows Zuckerberg ’s political hard - right tilt is nothing more than thinly veil attack at a quid - professional - quo . Meta ’s anti - trust case , which could see the companyforced to divest Instagram and WhatsApp , started on Monday .
It is too unsound that the billionaire would not likely listen the crosswalk sound themselves , since walking is , of course , something give to the plebeians .

Artificial intelligenceCaliforniaElon MuskHackingHacksMark Zuckerberg
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