Elon Musk Tries Desperately to Show He is a Actual Human Being

Elon Musk is the wealthiest man on the planet. However primarily based on his posts on X, the billionaire has by no means appeared extra indifferent from humanity. And after one high-profile writer identified that reality over the weekend, Musk now appears decided to show that he’s an actual human particular person with actual human pursuits.

It began within the early morning hours of Saturday when, at 3:20 a.m. Central Time, Musk shared a video along with his followers on X. “Grok Think about immediate: She smiles and says ‘I’ll at all times love you,’” Musk wrote, sharing the ensuing AI video.

Grok Think about immediate:

She smiles and says “I’ll at all times love you” pic.twitter.com/cjDu3MuDCZ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 8, 2025

The video is eerie, to say the least. It begins with an AI-generated lady giving a moderately involved expression earlier than smiling in that pretend means actual people typically do with out utilizing their eyes. Smiling with out your eyes is famously an indicator of a pretend smile. The audio can also be not very effectively synced to the video, as you’ll be able to see above.

However regardless of the technical limitations of Musk’s Grok, the true story right here is simply how a lot the wealthiest particular person on the planet appears to be scuffling with a scarcity of human connection. Musk’s need for love and companionship is comprehensible, if that’s what’s happening. It’s what all of us need in our lives. It’s solely human. Nonetheless, it’s simple to see why that may be onerous for Musk, particularly in the case of a romantic companion, given his attitudes on girls and their position in society.

Again in July, Musk pushed the concept girls have been “anti-white” as a result of they’re physically weak. He’s described empathy as a weak spot, and has been blamed for contributing to the deaths of an estimated 600,000 folks by way of his position in destroying USAID whereas the top of DOGE, in line with the New Yorker.

Musk is disconnected from humanity and insulated by his wealth, however he additionally appears to be affected by a self-imposed exile right into a fantasy world of his personal creation. The Tesla CEO bought Twitter in late 2022 and promptly set about altering the platform’s algorithm to verify he noticed extra reward from his followers. He allowed anybody with $8 to purchase a nugatory blue “verification” checkmark and tweaked the way in which Twitter (now X) works to verify these replies are on the high of all posts. Successfully, Musk made it in order that the folks keen to pay him cash are the folks whose replies would be the most seen.

The billionaire’s AI endeavors, with Grok and his firm xAI, appear to serve that very same objective of making a fantasy universe for one man. Musk instructed Joe Rogan throughout a latest podcast that he predicts just about all the things folks devour will finally be AI-generated. And it means that’s the world he desires to dwell in.

“Most of what folks devour in 5 or 6 years, possibly prior to that, will likely be simply AI-generated content material. So music, movies…” Musk instructed Rogan.

The podcaster replied that he cherished AI-generated music, seeming to substantiate Musk’s thesis among the many demographic of extraordinarily wealthy, 50-something males.

It was towards this backdrop that Joyce Carol Oates entered the dialog on Saturday. Oates, the 87-year-old writer, tweeted a moderately devastating statement about Musk’s personal social media habits.

“So curious that such a rich man by no means posts something that signifies that he enjoys or is even conscious of what just about everybody appreciates— scenes from nature, pet canine or cat, reward for a film, music, a guide (however doubt that he reads); delight in a pal’s or relative’s accomplishment; condolences for somebody who has died; pleasure in sports activities, approval for a favourite staff; references to historical past,” Oates wrote.

“In reality he appears completely uneducated, uncultured. The poorest individuals on Twitter could have entry to extra magnificence & which means in life than the ‘most rich particular person on the planet,’” Oates concluded.

It’s true. Musk spends his days on X largely whining about trans folks, palling round with far-right extremists, and retweeting quotes highlighting his brilliance. Musk’s personal tweets are largely centered on his personal petty grievances, but it surely’s his retweets that actually give some perception into how disconnected he’s from humanity. Scroll his feed at any given level, and the retweets aren’t about information he finds fascinating or tales that he desires to raise for unselfish causes. It’s virtually at all times about Musk, his firms, and his merchandise.

Oates clearly acquired below Musk’s pores and skin. He despatched out a collection of offended tweets, saying her tweet was “demonstrably false,” calling her an “offended liar,” and writing issues like, “Oates is a liar and delights in being imply. Not an excellent human.”

Musk then proceeded to make an effort to show he was keen on issues like films. And it was fairly unhappy to look at. The billionaire began replying to random tweets from the X account @cinesthetic, which posts about movies. “Man on Hearth is nice!” Musk wrote in reply to a tweet in regards to the 2003 film. “Nice film,” Musk wrote in reply to a different tweet in regards to the 2014 film Fringe of Tomorrow.

“Fifth Ingredient has nice fashion,” Musk replied in one other. It ought to most likely be famous that the video he was replying to opens with a shot of Gary Oldman’s character within the 1997 movie, who occurs to have the haircut Musk was sporting in 2021. And none of Musk’s very quick tweets engaged with something deeper. It was pathetically performative after getting pantsed by Oates.

Bluesky customers ridiculed Musk’s try at showing to love regular human things, as that social media platform’s left-leaning consumer base tends to do.

In equity, Musk does submit about books and flicks typically. He’s really helpful folks hearken to The Iliad on audiobook not less than half a dozen instances lately. However he appears to usually get confused about a lot of the media he talks about, together with issues like The Hitchhiker’s Information to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

“I took from the guide that we have to prolong the scope of consciousness in order that we’re higher capable of ask the questions in regards to the reply, which is the universe,” Musk is quoted as saying in Walter Isaacson’s biography.

The New Yorker marveled at Musk’s characterization in 2023, even questioning whether or not he’d truly learn the guide. The journal defined that he essentially misunderstands the guide’s message, which is definitely an indictment of imperialism, not a celebrating of seeing how far you’ll be able to attain.

However that’s arguably much less embarrassing than Musk’s ideas on the 1982 sci-fi movie Blade Runner. The CEO was describing his new Tesla Cybertruck car and why it was futuristic: “It’s an armored personnel service from the long run – what Bladerunner would have pushed.” There is no such thing as a character named Bladerunner within the movie Blade Runner.

Elon Musk could be the richest man on the planet, however cash can’t purchase the power to care about your fellow people. Nor can it provide the cultural data to correctly declare the title of Nerd King—one thing he desperately aspires to attain along with his awkward tweets.

Musk has constructed a man-made world the place he could make robotic girlfriends profess their love, with out the messiness of attending to an precise human’s wants or needs. Different X customers have even made enjoyable of his need to make AI girlfriends up to now, with even a few of his greatest followers recognizing it as weird. He’s put up guardrails on X in order that a lot of the messages he sees every day are fawning adulation, one thing that fewer folks on the platform appear to note. However each on occasion, an individual like Oates will completely eviscerate him. And he merely doesn’t know the way to deal with it.

With out the power to self-reflect, Musk appears doomed to repeat this cycle of embarrassment for the remainder of his life. Whereas Tesla shareholders voted simply final week to provide him a virtually $1 trillion pay package deal that could possibly be paid out over the next decade, there are days when it looks as if Elon Musk is essentially the most impoverished man within the nation.