In a strange fusion of futuristic technology, street-level pranks, and corporate chaos, several California cities have become unwilling hosts to what some are calling “The Great Cybertruck Giveaway Hoax.” Over the weekend, a bizarre series of events unfolded across Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Redwood City, where unsuspecting pedestrians were met not with the usual robotic voice commands at crosswalks but instead with eerie, AI-generated impersonations of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.These voices didn’t just mock the tech moguls—they offered Cybertrucks to strangers, confessed to loneliness, and made veiled political nods that left residents stunned and city officials scrambling.The situation first came to light when a city employee in Palo Alto noticed something peculiar about one of the crosswalk voice announcement systems early Saturday morning. Rather than the standard “Walk sign is on,” the speaker emitted what sounded like Elon Musk himself—though a version laced with desperation, sarcasm, and a touch of delusion.
By the end of the day, a total of 13 crosswalks across the three cities had been discovered to be compromised, all playing similar AI-generated voice messages impersonating the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, as well as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.In one of the viral videos shared on social media, a voice nearly identical to Musk’s utters, “You know, they say money can’t buy happiness, and yeah, okay, I guess that’s true. God knows I’ve tried. But it can buy a Cybertruck, and that’s pretty sick, right? Right?”The voice proceeds to curse and mutter about being “so alone,” leaving onlookers confused about whether to laugh, cringe, or be concerned. In another audio clip, the same AI Musk voice pleads with passersby: “Hi, I’m Elon. Can we be friends? Will you be my friend? I’ll give you a Cybertruck, I promise.”As videos spread online like wildfire, public reaction ranged from amusement to genuine alarm. Many began wondering whether this was some elaborate guerilla marketing campaign by Tesla, or perhaps a rogue AI test gone wrong.Others pointed fingers at political trolls, hackers, or anti-tech activists trying to ridicule two of the most influential (and controversial) figures in Silicon Valley. Some conspiracy theorists even claimed that this was a deep-state attempt to destabilize public trust in AI by making the richest men in the world sound absolutely unhinged at public intersections.
The mystery deepened when yet another bizarre recording was discovered—this time involving a fake Donald Trump voice chiming in after Musk’s monologue, saying: “Sweetie, come back to bed.” This short but inflammatory clip ignited a storm online, especially since Musk has been known to be a financial supporter of Trump’s latest campaign, often seen as the “de facto head” of DOGE—Trump’s loosely affiliated group of digital entrepreneurs.Meanwhile, the Zuckerberg AI voice offered its own brand of dystopian satire. “Hey, it’s Zuck here,” it announced in one instance, “I just wanted to tell you how very proud I am of everything we’ve been building together. From undermining democracy to cooking our grandparents’ brains with AI slop…Nobody does it better than us.” In another clip, “Zuck” reassures pedestrians that “it’s normal to feel violated” by AI’s growing role in everyday life and that there’s “absolutely nothing you can do to stop it.”City authorities were not amused. Meghan Horrigan-Taylor, a spokesperson for the City of Palo Alto, confirmed that the affected crosswalks were quickly disabled and added that no other traffic signal operations had been compromised. Officials from Menlo Park and Redwood City have yet to release formal statements, but internal investigations are reportedly underway.As of Monday, no suspects had been named, and the means by which the voice systems were altered remained unclear.
Tech analysts and social media watchdogs have been quick to link the prank to a growing wave of anti-tech sentiment spreading across the U.S. and Europe. Protests labeled “Tesla Takedown” have emerged in multiple cities, with demonstrators decrying Tesla’s labor practices, vehicle safety concerns, and perceived alignment with conservative political figures. In fact, earlier this year in Redwood City—the same location where Zuckerberg’s philanthropic organization is based—a Cybertruck was deliberately vandalized in broad daylight, further intensifying tensions.Some speculate the hacked crosswalks were a form of digital protest or satire aimed squarely at the increasing political alignment between Silicon Valley’s elite and the Trump administration. Both Musk and Zuckerberg were seated prominently at Trump’s inauguration and have been accused of bending policies or platforms to curry favor with the administration.Meta, for instance, recently eliminated its third-party fact-checking system, replacing it with a user-moderated “community notes” model—a decision that critics argue gives more power to misinformation and right-wing narratives.Despite the serious implications of tampering with public infrastructure, much of the public couldn’t help but find the scenario hilarious and absurd. Pedestrians posted TikToks and reels featuring the disembodied Musk voice offering them Cybertrucks like a deranged tech Santa Claus.
Some users began tagging Tesla in their posts demanding the vehicles they were “promised,” while others turned the incident into memes, portraying Musk as a lonely AI overlord bribing humanity with overpriced electric trucks.This incident has also sparked renewed debate over the ethics of AI voice cloning. While the technology has shown promise in accessibility tools, entertainment, and customer service automation, its misuse for pranks or misinformation is becoming harder to ignore.The line between satire and manipulation is increasingly blurred, particularly when synthetic voices sound indistinguishable from their real-life counterparts.The deeper irony, of course, is that this spectacle unfolded in the very backyard of the AI revolution. Palo Alto, home to Tesla’s global engineering division, and Menlo Park, the heart of Meta’s empire, are ground zero for many of the technologies now being turned against their creators.That the chaos emerged through the innocuous medium of crosswalk announcements only underscores how ubiquitous—and vulnerable—our tech ecosystem has become.
As of now, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have not made public comments on the incident, though many online speculate that Musk, in particular, might be secretly amused. After all, he’s never shied away from embracing chaos.And while this may not be an official Tesla promotion, some are already joking that “Cybertruck for Friendship” could be the most effective marketing strategy Musk has ever not actually launched.Whether prank, protest, or performance art, one thing is clear: in 2025, reality is increasingly stranger than fiction—and now, apparently, you can hear it at your nearest crosswalk.
