Technology

Reviewers pan Musk's AI-generated Odyssey episode, seven-minute Grok Imagine film made by three people in under two weeks

Nolan's $250 million original has taken $1.8 billion

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The first episode of Elon Musk’s AI-generated Odyssey. The seven-minute instalment was made by London-based Wonder Studios. Computer-generated: Grok Imagine The first episode of Elon Musk’s AI-generated Odyssey. The seven-minute instalment was made by London-based Wonder Studios. Computer-generated: Grok Imagine theguardian.com
The Greeks make land. The team behind the first episode said they would seek to make improvements in the second episode. Computer-generated: @Imagine The Greeks make land. The team behind the first episode said they would seek to make improvements in the second episode. Computer-generated: @Imagine theguardian.com

Elon Musk has released the first episode of an AI-generated adaptation of The Odyssey, a seven-minute film produced with the Grok Imagine tool by the London-based company Wonder Studios. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw awarded it one star and called it "meaningless as a laptop screensaver."

Musk launched the project after attacking Christopher Nolan's casting of Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy in his own Odyssey adaptation, using the blockbuster to press his views on diversity casting, and promised a version "true to the art of Homer." A full-length film is promised before the end of the year; for now it is arriving in episodes. The opener begins with Odysseus contemplating whether to join the Greek forces sacking Troy, follows him sailing from Ithaca as his men call for vengeance, and closes ten years of war later with him holding a wooden figurine of a horse.

Wonder co-founder Xavier Collins said the episode was made in less than two weeks by a team of three, including the US-based director Dev Walker, at a cost understood to run to tens of thousands of dollars. Nolan's version cost $250 million, was shot over 91 days in multiple locations with a vast crew, and has taken $1.8 billion at the box office. The episode is as much product demonstration as cinema. Collins and his team describe themselves as supporters of Nolan's film, and he said the brief was "to help us understand the technology, where it's strong, where it could use improvement." Wonder, which previously produced an AI-generated video for the Lewis Capaldi track "Something in the Heavens" with Google DeepMind, says the second episode will answer complaints about the historical accuracy of its boats and its rapid pacing, and will be "radically better than the last."

Musk has promised the full film before the end of the year. The first seven minutes have been viewed 7.3 million times on X.