Grok releases first seven minutes of its AI-generated “Odyssey”
Elon Musk's Grok AI has published a seven-minute first episode of its “Odyssey” series, three months after a full-length film was promised. The reviewer found the visuals better than expected but lacking artistry.
Grok, the AI system from Elon Musk's company, has published a seven-minute video that the company calls “Episode 1 of our Odyssey series.” It comes three months after Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, said Grok would release a full-length, “historically accurate” film version of Homer's “The Odyssey.” The material was made in collaboration with Wonder Studios and director Dev Walker.
A contrast with Nolan's film
Musk had earlier criticized director Christopher Nolan's “The Odyssey” because Nolan cast nonwhite and transgender actors. Nolan has called himself “a techno-skeptic” and said that, before AI, he had never seen a technology “so completely rejected by the public.”
Nolan's film is primarily a work of practical filmmaking, shot across six countries with a cast and crew of thousands. Since its July release it has been a major box office success, selling out Imax screenings for months, and is seen as a likely front-runner at the next Academy Awards.
Assessment of the Grok version
Anthony Ha, TechCrunch's weekend editor, writes that the footage is not as ugly as he had expected and is more impressive than other videos Musk has posted recently. At moments the characters looked like real actors sailing a real sea. All characters appear in what he calls a Musk-approved skin color, while the narrator speaks with a British accent.
However, he says the footage lacks artistry, inspiration and human interest. The opening backstory runs long, and the characters then shout stilted lines. Overall, he writes, it feels airless, with no momentum and no reason for viewers to care about what is on screen.
