Howard Rheingold (@hrheingold.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy)

**Getting yourTrinity Audio player ready...** --- A crosswalk button in Redwood City plays a voice professing to be Mark Zuckerberg on April 12. Courtesy Justin Ward. 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 multiple locations in both Redwood City 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.” **Calling all photographers!** The 2025 Six Fifty Peninsula Photo Contest is now accepting submissions! Anyone who lives, works, or attends school in the 6-5-0 area code is eligible to enter. Both youth and adults are welcome. **Learn More & Enter** In another video, taken in downtown Palo Alto early on Saturday morning, a voice claiming to be Musk says that he would “like to personally welcome you to Palo Alto.” “You know, people keep saying cancer is bad, but have you tried being a cancer? It’s f—— awesome,” the voice goes on to say. A crosswalk button in Palo Alto plays a voice professing to be Elon Musk on April 12. Courtesy Cynthia Neuwalder. Another video from downtown Palo Alto shows a voice impersonating Musk saying that he would give the listener a Cybertruck if they become his friend. “You don’t know the level of depravity I would stoop to just for a crumb of approval,” the voice says. “I mean, let’s be real, it’s not like I had any moral convictions to begin with.” Some of the impacted crosswalk buttons were no longer playing the messages on Saturday morning, one local resident reported. City of Palo Alto spokesperson Meghan Horrigan-Taylor said that city employees determined that 12 downtown intersections were impacted and have disabled the voice announcement feature on the crosswalks until repairs can be made. The tampering may have happened on Friday, Horrigan-Taylor said. “Other traffic signals in the City were checked and the impact is isolated,” Horrigan-Taylor said. “Signal operations are otherwise unaffected, and motorists are reminded to always exercise caution around pedestrians.” It is unclear whether the problem has been fixed outside of Palo Alto, how many crosswalks were impacted in total or what was the cause. A Meta spokesperson referred questions to the cities with the impacted crosswalks. Tesla did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The California Department of Transportation, as well as a representative from Redwood City, also did not immediately respond to requests for comment. _This story is developing and will be updated as more information is available._ _If you have more information about crosswalks that have been impacted, let us know in the comments or send us an email at [email protected]._ #### Most Popular Popular Taiwanese dumpling chain to open its first Bay Area outpost in Santa ClaraApril 9, 2025 1:52 pm Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuckerberg voices3 hours ago Protesters face felony charges for taking over Stanford buildingApril 10, 2025 1:11 pm https://www.paloaltoonline.com/technology/2025/04/12/silicon-valley-crosswalk-buttons-apparently-hacked-to-imitate-musk-zuckerberg-voices/