Elon Musk's Grok releases the first 7 minutes of its AI-generated Odyssey film

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence platform, Grok, has officially stepped into the movie business. Three months after Musk promised to make a full-length, "historically accurate" film by the end of 2026, the Grok Imagine account on X has released a 7-minute video. The company is calling this "Episode 1 of our Odyssey series," which is based on the ancient Greek epic.The short is based on the ancient Greek epic and was published on X as the first installment of a planned series, not as the full feature film Musk originally promised.How was it made?The 7-minute short film was created in partnership with Wonder Studios and director Dev Walker. The impressive part is the technology behind it. Grok handled the entire film-making process.The video was generated using Grok Imagine, xAI’s AI image-and-video tool. However, xAI has not publicly provided a detailed production breakdown confirming exactly how the script, visuals, voices, and camera work were produced. Watch Episode 1 of our Odyssey series made with Grok Imagine. Let us know in the comments if you'd like a full breakdown of how it was done! Creative collaboration with @WonderStudiosX and director Dev Walker @glumlot_ https://t.co/xpgpkqSCpq— Grok Imagine (@imagine) October 23, 2026 What is in the video?The video shows the Greek hero Odysseus preparing to leave for the Trojan War. It features scenes of his wife, Penelope, encouraging him to go, Greek ships sailing away, and his son, Telemachus, training to fight.Some parts of the video look very real. The shots of the ships at sea, for example, are so good that viewers might mistake them for live-action footage. However, despite Musk's focus on "historical accuracy," the characters do not speak in ancient Greek. Instead, the narrator and the characters use generic British accents that sound like they belong in a video game.The Christopher Nolan drama This AI movie release comes with a lot of background drama. In July, famous Hollywood director Christopher Nolan released his own live-action version of "The Odyssey." Nolan’s movie was a massive box-office hit, selling out IMAX theatres for months and becoming a top contender for the Academy Awards. It was a huge real-world project, shot across six countries with thousands of crew members.Elon Musk heavily criticized Nolan’s movie for casting nonwhite and transgender actors. As a response, Grok's AI version features characters with a "Musk-approved" skin colour. Nolan, meanwhile, has openly called himself a "techno-skeptic" and criticized how much the public has rejected AI.Why are people rejecting the AI movie?Even though the AI video looks visually decent, the overall reaction has been very negative. Reviewers and social media users have pointed out that the movie completely lacks a human touch, artistry, and emotion.Critics have called the dialogue stiff and the background narration far too long. While Nolan's three-hour movie kept audiences hooked, viewers found themselves getting bored just halfway through Grok's 7-minute clip. Many users on X criticized the pacing and called the video "slop," comparing it to a boring video game cutscene that you just want to skip.It is still a mystery when the full-length movie that Musk promised will actually come out. For now, it seems the AI still has a long way to go before it can replace real human actors and directors.- Ends