Hacked crosswalk buttons along the Peninsula were sounding a new tune when pressed on Saturday with voices mimicking Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, speaking a message.
Videos taken at various locations in Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Redwood City were circulated on social media, showing the different messages spoken when the crosswalk buttons are hit.
In one video taken in Menlo Park on the corner of El Camino Real and Santa Cruz Avenue, a voice claiming to be the Meta CEO gives a cryptic message about AI and its involvement in society.
"Hi this is Mark Zuckerberg, but the real ones call me the Zuck. You know, it's normal to feel uncomfortable or even violated as we forcibly insert AI into every facet of your conscious experience," the voice said. "And I just want to assure you, you don't need to worry because there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop it. Anyway, see ya."
A Meta spokesperson referred questions to respective city representatives when asked about the crosswalk voices.
@keagan.19 Menlo Park, home of meta, crosswalk speakers are getting hacked… @Mark Zuckerberg ♬ original sound - Keagan B
In another video, taken in downtown Palo Alto near University Avenue and Florence St, a voice claiming to be Musk welcomes people to the city and then goes on to promote a Tesla cybertruck.
Local
"Hi, this is Elon Musk. Welcome to Palo Alto the home of Tesla engineering," said the voice. "You know, they say money can't buy happiness, and yeah Ok. I guess that's true, God knows I've tried. But it can buy a cybertruck, and that's pretty sick, right? F***, I'm so alone."
@bulou.varanisese #FYP #Paloalto #SiliconValley #ElonMusk #Cybertruck ♬ original sound - Bulou Varanisese
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A voice mimicking Musk said it would “like to personally welcome you to Palo Alto," in another video also taken in Palo Alto
“You know, people keep saying cancer is bad, but have you tried being a cancer? It’s f****** awesome,” the voice message continues to say.
crosswalks in palo alto @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/dT07EpWnEh
— Rana Banankhah 😆 (@ranabanankhah) April 12, 2025
Meghan Horrigan-Taylor, chief communications officer for the City of Palo Alto, said that tampering may have occurred with the voice feature in the crosswalk buttons on Friday. City employees did not notice the voice message till Saturday morning.
According to Horrigan-Taylor, 12 intersections in downtown were "malfunctioning"
"City staff have disabled the audible feature until further repairs can be made," she said. "Other traffic signals in the City were checked and the impact is isolated. Signal operations are otherwise unaffected, and motorists are reminded to always exercise caution around pedestrians."
According to Jennifer Yamaguma, the deputy city manager for Redwood City, officials were also made aware that crosswalk signals were hacked on Saturday.
"Staff were actively working to investigate and resolve the issue as quickly as possible," Yamaguma said.
It is unclear how many crosswalks were impacted in Redwood City and Menlo Park.
Representatives for Menlo Park did not respond to NBC Bay Area's request for comment on Saturday.
Tesla did not immediately respond to NBC Bay Area's request for comment on Saturday.
