Musk’s Grok creates 7-minute AI film:Users say visuals are good, but dialogue is lifeless

Elon Musk’s AI platform ‘Grok’ has entered filmmaking. Musk claimed some time ago that he would make a full-length AI film by the end of the year. Three months after that promise, the ‘Grok Imagine’ X handle shared a seven-minute video. The company is calling it the first episode of its ‘Odyssey’ series, based on the famous ancient Greek epic Homer’s Odyssey. Although the video’s visuals are impressive, viewers do not seem particularly impressed. They are describing it as lifeless, boring and completely devoid of human emotion. How the film was made The seven-minute short film was made in collaboration with Wonder Studios and director Dev Walker. It was generated using xAI’s tool ‘Grok Imagine’. However, xAI has not yet made it clear how the film’s story, visuals, sound and camera work were actually created. What is in the seven-minute video? The video opens with the Greek hero Odysseus preparing to leave for the Trojan War. His wife, Penelope, urges him to go to war. Greek ships are shown setting sail, while their son Telemachus appears to be training for battle. Some scenes in the video look remarkably realistic. The shots of ships at sea are so impressive that, at first glance, anyone could mistake them for footage from a real shoot. The narrator and characters speak in an ordinary British accent, making it sound like a video game. This film is linked to a controversy involving Christopher Nolan Grok’s AI-generated film is also linked to a controversy involving renowned Hollywood director Christopher Nolan. Nolan released the film The Odyssey in July this year. Nolan’s film became a major box-office hit, keeping IMAX theatres sold out for months, and is also leading the Oscar race. It was a big-budget project that was shot in six different countries with thousands of crew members. Elon Musk criticised Nolan for casting non-white and transgender actors in his film. In response, Grok’s AI version features only characters with “skin tones preferred by Musk”. Nolan, meanwhile, describes himself as someone who does not place much trust in technology and has openly criticised the use of AI in this way. Why are people not liking this film? People say it has neither emotion nor human creativity. The dialogues are completely lifeless, while the narration is too long and boring. While Nolan’s three-hour film keeps viewers engaged, people started getting bored within Grok’s seven-minute video. Several users on X called it poor-quality content and compared it to a cutscene from a boring video game. It is not yet clear when Musk’s full film will be released. But one thing is certain: it will still take AI a long time to replace human actors and directors.