‘Meaningless as a laptop screensaver’: reviewers slate Musk’s AI-made Odyssey film
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Tesla tycoon launched Grok project after criticising Christoper Nolan’s diverse casting for his Homeric blockbuster Elon Musk has released an AI-generated rival to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey after pledging to make a version “true to the art of Homer”. Having criticised the hit movie in the summ
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A dimly lit, cluttered home office with a large computer screen showing a pixelated, glitchy image of a Greek hero wandering a barren landscape, alongside a laptop with a screensaver of the same glitchy image, while a frustrated filmmaker scribbles notes on a pad.
Caption: When your AI masterpiece looks like a screensaver loop
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Based on the original story on theguardian.com.
Editor's note
Musk's AI-generated film raises troubling questions about the role of technology in creative arts, potentially devaluing the human touch and artistic integrity that make storytelling meaningful. As we embrace automated tools, it's crucial to consider the risks of losing the depth and nuance that come from authentic human creativity.
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Panel 1
(a) The subject of this story is Elon Musk, a tech mogul who is known for his ambitious and often controversial projects. The irony here is that Musk, a self-proclaimed tech genius, has created an AI-generated film as a direct response to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which has been praised for its artistic merit and diverse casting. The absurdity lies in Musk’s criticism of Nolan’s film for its casting choices, followed by his own attempt to make a film with AI, which is seen as a lesser artistic endeavor. (b) The real irony is that Musk, a tech entrepreneur, is now seen as the critic of a visionary filmmaker, attempting to outdo Nolan’s artistic effort with a machine-generated film that lacks the human touch and artistic integrity Nolan’s work embodies. (c) The highlight is when Musk’s AI-generated film is described as highlighting the absurdity of using AI to replace human creativity and storytelling. ---
Narrator: meaningless as a laptop screensaver,
Panel 2
*An office room cluttered with tech gadgets and papers. A bespectacled programmer, John, sits at a desk, staring at a computer screen showing a grainy, glitchy clip of what looks like a poorly rendered ancient Greek scene. John looks puzzled and a bit annoyed.* JOHN (sighing)
JOHN: How is this supposed to be a movie? It looks like a screensaver from 1995.
Panel 3
*The same office, but now a projector screen is set up, displaying the full AI-generated film. A group of critics, including a stern-looking woman named Linda and a bemused man named Mike, sit around a conference table, looking at the screen. The screen shows a series of repetitive, glitchy images that are clearly AI-generated.* LINDA (sarcastically) MIKE (shrugging)
LINDA: Yeah, this is definitely the future of cinema.
MIKE: Maybe it’s meant to be an interactive screensaver?
Panel 4
*The office again, John is now looking at a laptop displaying a tweet from Elon Musk: John shakes his head in disbelief as he reads a comment below the tweet: John looks up, smiling wryly, then back at the tweet.* JOHN (smirking)
Narrator: Grok has created a version of The Odyssey true to the art of Homer.
Narrator: Meaningless as a laptop screensaver.
JOHN: Guess AI just got a bit of a fail in the art department.
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