California Crosswalk Buttons Hacked to Mimic Musk and Zuckerberg's Voices

AIbase基地

Published inAI News · 4 min read · Apr 15, 2025

Recently, several California cities experienced a bizarre phenomenon: downtown pedestrian crossing buttons were hacked to play simulated voices of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Videos posted online show the voices humorously interacting with pedestrians, with Musk even requesting friendship and promising a Cybertruck.

According to reports, a Palo Alto city spokesperson confirmed that 12 downtown intersections were affected, and the pedestrian button voice function has been temporarily suspended for repairs. They stated that other traffic signal functions are operating normally, and the hacking appears to have occurred last Friday. Similar to Palo Alto, Redwood City's assistant city manager confirmed they are investigating and addressing the issue, and Menlo Park's pedestrian buttons were also affected.

The voice function on these buttons primarily assists visually impaired individuals by indicating when to “wait” and when it’s safe to cross. While the simulated voices seem to play in addition to the original safety prompts, some videos show them overlapping with the regular announcements.

In some videos, the simulated Musk voice is playful and humorous. He says, "Hi, I'm Elon Musk, welcome to Palo Alto. People always say cancer is bad, but have you tried being cancer? It's awesome!" He also makes a lonely plea: "Hi, it's Elon. Can we be friends? I'll give you a Cybertruck, I promise."

Zuckerberg's voice is more satirical: "Hey, it's Zuck. I'm proud of everything we built together. From undermining democracy to gaslighting our grandparents with AI, nobody does it better than us." These voice clips have prompted curiosity and laughter from passersby, but also raised concerns about security and privacy.

Local governments are actively addressing the situation, aiming to restore normal functionality and services as soon as possible, while also investigating the cause of the incident.

Key Points:
🌐 Pedestrian crossing buttons in multiple California cities were hacked to simulate Musk and Zuckerberg's voices and "interact" with pedestrians.
🔊 The affected buttons primarily assist the visually impaired; the voice function is temporarily suspended for repairs.
😂 The simulated voices were humorous and satirical, attracting attention and discussion from passersby.

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