Elon Musk's AI-Generated Odyssey Has Gone Down About As Well As You'd Expect

Remember over the summer when Elon Musk claimed that he was going to use artificial intelligence technology to generate his own version of The Odyssey?

Well, we’re sorry to report that the first fruits of the software’s labour have now made their way online.

Earlier this year, the tech billionaire had been among the most vocal critics of Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey, most notably due to the casting of Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o as Helen Of Troy and Oscar nominee Elliot Page as Sinon.

Musk had previously branded Nolan an “anti-White racist”, accused him of “desecrating Homer” with his take on the classic and suggested that the director’s decision to include a diverse cast in his movie was about winning “awards” after Oscars organisers introduced new measures with regards to movies it nominates.

This was despite the fact that Nolan’s last film, Oppenheimer, had already won Best Picture and Best Director, with research by the media outlet Variety indicating that no film nominated for Best Picture in the Oscars’ history would no longer be eligible under the awards body’s guidelines.

Forbes also reported that Musk had boosted posts on X, the social media site he owns, which boasted similar views on Nolan and The Odyssey, while some of his own takes included misinformation.

Eventually, in July, the SpaceX founder doubled down on his criticism of Nolan’s Odyssey, vowing to his followers: “Before this year ends, Grok Imagine [an AI generator owned by Musk] will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer.”

This was immediately met with criticism, as users questioned how a “historically accurate” version of a myth featuring gods, monsters and sorcery could actually be.

And indeed, when the first seven minutes of Grok Imagine’s The Odyssey were posted on X over the weekend, users voiced many of these same thoughts – as well as pointing out that the visuals showcased many of the issues commonly associated with AI-generated content.

Critics were similarly scathing about the seven-minute “episode”.

Rolling Stone’s write-up pointed out that “technically, the AI Odyssey borrows a lot visually from Nolan’s Odyssey” but is “less awe-inspiring”, while “even on an AI level, the acting is not great”.

Mashable called the footage “exactly what you’d expect”, stating: “Visually, it has all the usual problems of generative AI video: unnaturally perfect teeth; the weightless, almost water-like hair texture; and the skin has an odd, smudgy quality that comes from the model not really understanding lighting or perspective.

“The backgrounds also suffer from something akin to texture pop-in, where video games load low-resolution textures before the detailed ones, so the screen isn’t just black.

“As just a film to watch, the writing isn’t all that great, and it’s hard to keep up with all the characters as they look similar or look way too similar to real people.”

“Elon Musk’s slop generator releases first episode of his AI Odyssey,” begins The AV Club’s take, agreeing that the finished product is “as uninspired as expected”.

“The whole thing comes across less like the start of a cohesive feature film and more like a choppy trailer or sizzle reel, at best,” they said.

Where can I watch Elon Musk’s new AI-generated take on The Odyssey?

If, after all that, you are for some reason still curious about watching the AI-generated Odyssey for yourself, you can check out the first seven minutes in the video below.