Alex Gibney Uses an AI Avatar to Simulate an Elon Musk Interview

Alex Gibney’s new documentary, Musk, uses an AI avatar of Elon Musk to simulate an interview using statements Musk made in real interviews. The film was scheduled to receive its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, putting an unusual documentary device at the center of its debut.

A constructed exchange, built from earlier remarks

Rather than a conventional new interview, the film uses remarks Musk made in real interviews as material for a simulated exchange with an AI avatar. The source of the statements and the presentation of the exchange are therefore separate parts of the device: Musk’s earlier remarks supply the material, while the film creates the new interview setting. The filmmakers consulted lawyers before moving ahead and received approval to use the avatar.

Gibney called the choice intentionally ironic. He said it refers to Musk’s idea that people may be living in a simulation, while also contrasting with Musk’s shifting views on AI. For Gibney, the avatar is not presented simply as a technical flourish. It is part of the film’s argument about the difference he sees between Musk’s actions and his self-presentation.

The reality of what he’s done and unreality of his narrative.

Alex Gibney

The avatar sits inside a much larger portrait

The avatar is one element of a documentary that runs nearly four hours. The film traces Musk’s life from his childhood and early Silicon Valley years through his work with DOGE in the second Trump administration and his involvement in right-wing politics internationally. It also includes an interview with his father, Errol Musk.

The film’s reported range

• Its interview subjects include Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard, Musk’s first wife Justine Musk, neurologist Sam Harris, tech reporter Kara Swisher and former USAID Administrator Samantha Power.
• Gibney said the project was originally planned as a much shorter film before Musk became involved in Trump’s campaign.
• The film is scheduled for a theatrical release in October after its Venice premiere.

An argument about platforms, not only a biography

Musk also examines his takeover of X. Gibney says the film addresses what he describes as manipulation of the platform’s algorithm, including his view that the changes favored vitriol and hate over a town square. That is Gibney’s assessment, not an independently established finding in the film’s Venice presentation.

Zoë Schiffer, a Wired reporter who appears in the documentary, added her own account of the platform’s changes. She said Musk had altered the algorithm to suppress mainstream journalism while boosting more inflammatory comments and voices. Her remarks give the film a second on-screen perspective on the subject, while remaining a characterization from an interview participant.

That wider scope explains why the simulated interview is more than an isolated sequence. Gibney uses it to connect Musk’s public statements to his broader portrait of Musk’s influence on technology, politics and online speech. The creative choice leaves a central question for viewers: whether an AI-mediated presentation clarifies the meaning of an earlier remark or changes it by putting it into a newly constructed exchange.