Genies in a Box?

Better still look both ways.


Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuckerberg voices, by Zoe Morgan, Palo Alto Online, April 12, 2025.

Crosswalk buttons along the mid-Peninsula appear to have been hacked, so that when pressed, voices professing to be Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk begin speaking.

Videos taken at locations in Redwood City, Menlo Park and Palo Alto show various messages that begin to play when crosswalk buttons are hit. The voices appear to imitate how Zuckerberg and Musk sound.

In one video, taken on Saturday morning at the corner of Arguello Street, Broadway and Marshall Street in Redwood City, a voice claiming to be Zuckerberg says that “it’s normal to feel uncomfortable or even violated as we forcefully insert AI into every facet of your conscious experience. And I just want to assure you, you don’t need to worry because there’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop it.”

Read the whole article here.