Following the recent approval by Tesla shareholders of a compensation package that could be valued at $1 trillion, CEO Elon Musk publicly utilized xAI's new Grok Imagine tool on the social media platform X. On Saturday morning, Musk posted a series of videos generated by the artificial intelligence application, subsequently drawing attention and comments from various online users and public figures.
One notable video, posted at 4:20 AM EST, was described by Musk as a direct result of his prompt: "She smiles and says, 'I will always love you.'" The generated content featured an animated female figure situated on a rainy street, delivering the specified phrase in a distinctly synthetic voice. Twenty-four minutes later, a separate Grok-generated video showcased actress Sydney Sweeney, whose likeness uttered the phrase "You are so cringe" in an artificial vocalization. Grok Imagine, a product of Musk's xAI company, is positioned as a new AI photo and video generation tool.
The initial public reception on X, particularly to the "always love you" video, included numerous critiques. Users described the post with phrases such as "the most divorced post of all time" and "the saddest post in the history of this website," according to reports summarizing online sentiment. These reactions highlighted a critical engagement with the content and its presentation.
The online discussion escalated with remarks from Joyce Carol Oates, the 87-year-old award-winning author. Oates, responding to an exchange concerning Musk's public commentary on a Texas state senator, posted an observation regarding Musk's social media presence. She stated it was "so curious" that Musk "never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates," enumerating common interests like friends, relatives, nature, pets, movies, music, or books. Oates further asserted that Musk "seems totally uneducated, uncultured," concluding that "the poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the 'most wealthy person in the world.'"
In response to Oates' remarks, Musk subsequently posted a direct rebuttal. He stated, "Oates is a liar and delights in being mean. Not a good human." This interaction marked a direct public exchange between the two figures on the X platform, occurring within days of the significant shareholder vote at Tesla.
