Grok Imagine's first AI-made 'Odyssey' episode lands, and critics pan it

Grok Imagine, xAI's video generator, posted a 7-minute first episode of an AI-made Odyssey series on X on 23 October, made with Wonder Studios and director Dev Walker [1]. Elon Musk had promised a full-length, historically accurate film [2]. Reviews from TechCrunch, The Telegraph and others have been largely negative [4][5][6].

What did Grok Imagine release?

Grok Imagine released a seven-minute first episode of an AI-made Odyssey series on X on 23 October 2026. The official post calls it Episode 1 of the series and credits Wonder Studios and director Dev Walker as creative collaborators [1]. The attached video runs 7 minutes and 12 seconds [1].

Musk shared it the next morning with the words "Odyssey with Grok Imagine" [2]. According to WIRED, the episode shows Odysseus, King of Ithaca, resisting a call to war against Troy before an oath forces him to sail [3]. The Independent reports that only Odysseus is named in the clip [6].

What did Musk promise in July?

Elon Musk had promised in July a full-length, historically accurate Odyssey film made with Grok Imagine before year-end. He posted the pledge on X after criticising the casting of Christopher Nolan's adaptation, which opened in cinemas on 17 July [2][6].

In September, the Grok Imagine account said it was working on short Odyssey episodes and that Wonder Studios had delivered a pilot in 15 days [1]. TechCrunch notes that what arrived is seven minutes, not a feature [4].

How have critics reviewed the episode?

TechCrunch's Anthony Ha wrote that some shots could pass for real actors at sea, but that the clip feels "completely airless" [4]. A Telegraph critic, quoted by The Hollywood Reporter, called it a take that "deserves to be put to the sword", while crediting its battle scenes [5].

WIRED said the episode bears many hallmarks of AI slop, citing faces that do not match the dialogue and abrupt pacing [3]. The Independent and The Hollywood Reporter collected largely derisive reactions from X users [5][6].

Does Grok think its Odyssey is historically accurate?

WIRED reported that Grok itself, when asked, said the episode is not a historically accurate reconstruction. According to WIRED, the chatbot cited modern English with British accents and a cavalry scene as problems [3].

Our read

Opinion: As a product demo, seven minutes of near-photoreal footage from one video model is real progress, and xAI clearly wants creators to copy the workflow. As a response to Nolan, it misses the bar Musk set himself: "historically accurate" was always the wrong promise for a myth, and his own chatbot now says so.

What we could not verify

• Whether Episode 1 is the same pilot that Wonder Studios said in September it made in 15 days with 2,070 images and 1,558 videos; xAI has not said so.
• How much of the episode was generated by Grok Imagine versus edited, voiced or scored by people; the posts give no production breakdown.
• Whether a full-length film will still arrive before the end of 2026 as Musk promised; no release date for further episodes has been announced.
• Grok's self-assessment as reported by WIRED; chatbot answers can vary between prompts and we did not reproduce WIRED's exact query.
• The Telegraph review is quoted via The Hollywood Reporter; the Telegraph page was paywalled when we fetched it.