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PolitiFact – These photos of Elon Musk kissing a ‘robot wife’ aren’t real. They’re AI-generated

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Is billionaire Elon Musk poised to make a “robot wife”? Social media users claim such a project is underway and will be rolled out in the next few months.

“According to report, Elon Musk and his company are in the final stages of making a Robot Wife,” read a May 17 Instagram post’s caption.  “The supply of Robot Wives is expected to roll out in September 2023. They will reach Africa by November 2023.”

The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

(Screenshot from Instagram)

 

We found no credible reports or statements to suggest this is a real undertaking by Musk. The images were posted May 3 by Instagram user @art_is_2_inspire, who indicated in hashtags that it was “AI art.” Agence France-Presse and Full Fact also debunked this post.

 

PolitiFact reached out to the @art_is_2_inspire account, its owner, who identified as Pablo Xavier sent screenshots of prompts used to create the images.

Musk’s company Tesla is working on humanoid robots called Tesla Bot or Optimus, but those are not “robot wives.” In a shareholder meeting May 16, Musk presented a video showing that the robots can walk and pick up items. The robots were first unveiled in 2022.

 

The photos of Musk kissing robots are not real, and there is no proof that he is “making a robot wife.” We rate this claim False.

 

UPDATE, June 1, 2023: This fact-check has been updated to include information provided by the owner of the @art_is_2_inspire Instagram account.

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