After Tesla shareholders approved a massive compensation package that could be worth up to $1 trillion, Elon Musk spent the weekend celebrating in his usual way, by posting on his social media platform, X.
Early Saturday morning, at exactly 4:20 a.m. EST, Musk shared a video created with Grok Imagine, a new AI photo and video generator developed by his company xAI. He explained that he had prompted the tool with the phrase, âShe smiles and says, âI will always love you.ââ The resulting clip showed an animated woman standing on a rainy street, saying those words in a clearly artificial voice.
Just 24 minutes later, Musk posted another Grok-generated video, this time featuring a synthetic version of actress Sydney Sweeney saying, âYou are so cringe,â in a voice that sounded nothing like her real one.
Users on X immediately reacted. Many mocked the first video, calling it awkward and lonely. One user described it as âthe most divorced post of all time,â while another labeled it âthe saddest post in the history of this website.â The posts added to a growing trend of people using AI to create digital companions or virtual romantic scenarios, something critics often point to as unsettling.
But Muskâs most pointed criticism of the weekend didnât come from random users. It came from acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates, who responded to a long thread in which another user defended Musk after a Texas state senator criticized his new pay package. Oates wrote that she found it âcuriousâ that Musk never seemed to share anything that showed a love for everyday human experiences like nature, family, art, or culture.
âIn fact, he seems totally uneducated, uncultured,â she wrote. âThe poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty and meaning in life than the most wealthy person in the world.â
Musk didnât hold back. He fired back at Oates directly, replying, âOates is a liar and delights in being mean. Not a good human.â
The exchange summed up a typical Musk weekend online, part tech showcase, part social commentary, and part controversy, all playing out in real time on the platform he owns.
