A video shared on Facebook purports to show a robot cutting Tesla CEO and owner of X, Elon Musk’s hair.

Screenshot captured via Facebook

Verdict: False

An artificial intelligence (AI) expert denied the video’s authenticity in an email to Check Your Fact.

Fact Check:

Musk is reportedly interested in buying the English soccer club Liverpool, according to The Associated Press. Musk’s father, Errol Musk, spoke about his son’s interest in the team during an interview with Times Radio, the outlet reported.

The video purports to show a robot cutting Musk’s hair. “BREAKING NEWS: Robots Cut Elon Musk’s Hair in Groundbreaking Moment!” the video’s caption reads in part.

The claim is false, however. Check Your Fact performed a content detection scan using the website, “TrueMedia.org,” and the results indicate there is “some evidence of manipulation.” According to the same results, the video features “generation or manipulation of faces.”

Likewise, the claim does not appear to be referenced on Musk’s verified X account, @elonmusk. In addition, Check Your Fact found no credible news reports to support the claim. Actually, the opposite is true.

Both Newschecker and Factly recently debunked the claim. Both outlets traced the video’s origins to a Dec. 17 post from @aismartzone, an Instagram account that is run by a self-proclaimed “AI & Robotics Explorer” and “Tech Enthusiast.” The original video shared by @aismartzone has received over 300,000 likes as of writing. (RELATED: Did Elon Musk Post About His ‘Unlimited Tolerance For Ketamine?’)

 

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Furthermore, Dr. Walter Scheirer, an AI expert from the University of Notre Dame, denied the video’s authenticity in an email to Check Your Fact.

“This is a bad quality AI-generated video that doesn’t look at all plausible. In the first segment, the rendering of the robot’s hands and scissors, as well as Musk’s hair, is very poor. The scissors jitter in an unnatural way, and the tuft of hair being cut appears out of focus compared to the rest of Musk’s head. This entire video looks more like a cartoon than a photorealistic scene,” Scheirer said.

Check Your Fact has also contacted Musk for comment.