Musk's AI Odyssey: seven minutes, three people, harsh reviews

Elon Musk has put out an AI-generated take on Homer's Odyssey, made with Grok Imagine. The first instalment runs seven minutes and was released on X through the Grok Imagine account. It was produced with Wonder Studios, a London-based startup.

Musk had promised a "full-length movie" before the end of the year. For now he is releasing the project in episodes instead. The first one opens with Odysseus weighing whether to join the Greek forces against Troy, then follows him sailing from Ithaca with his men calling for vengeance. It closes after ten years of fighting, with Odysseus holding a wooden horse figurine.

Wonder Studios co-founder Xavier Collins said the episode was made in less than two weeks by a creative team of three, including US-based director Dev Walker. It is understood to have cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Collins said the brief was to help understand the technology, where it is strong and where it could improve. He also said the team was not told to make the film anti-woke. Collins described himself as a huge fan of Nolan's film, and said the Wonder team supports it.

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave the episode one star. He wrote that each dramatic moment, from Odysseus agreeing to fight to the sea journey and the final decision, is as motiveless and meaningless as shapes moving on a laptop screensaver.

A reviewer in the Telegraph described the experience of watching it as feeling your eyeballs twitch as it unfolds in what they called sloppy gruesomeness. The episode has drawn 7.3 million views on the Grok Imagine X account, alongside some harsh feedback.

Musk launched the project after criticising Christopher Nolan's casting for his Odyssey film, including black actor Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy. He said he would make a version true to the art of Homer and historically accurate.

Nolan's version cost $250m and was shot over 91 days across multiple locations with a large crew. It has taken $1.8bn at the box office.

Collins said Wonder aims to make the second episode better than the first and will respond to the criticism. He named the historical accuracy of the boats and the fast pacing as points to address.

He said the team will look at all the comments and at what could have been done better. The stated goal is that the last episode is radically better than the first. Wonder has also worked with Google DeepMind on an AI-generated video for the Lewis Capaldi track Something in the Heavens.