Fact Check: Is the viral Elon Musk baby photo real? Image debunked

A photo of Elon Musk as a baby went viral on social media, causing people to speculate whether the photo was real or fake. On June 4, 2023, a parody account, @alifarhat79, shared the image on Twitter. The sarcastic caption of the tweet stated that Elon was reportedly working on an anti-aging formula, which got way out of hand, implying that it made the former CEO of Twitter look like a baby.

To clarify the reader’s doubts, the image of the viral baby Elon Musk picture was AI-generated and was shared as a form of mild entertainment. The account that posted the picture also described in its bio that it is for financial parody and sarcasm.

What’s more surprising is that Elon himself responded to his AI-generated baby photo. He played along with the joke and wrote that he might have taken too much of the anti-aging formula. To further the joke, the creator also commented, telling Elon that he would now have time to get to Mars, implying he was young again.

Elon Musk's response to his AI-generated baby photo. (Image via Twitter/Not Jerome Powell)

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"Felt cute. Might go to Mars later": Twitter reacts to AI-generated baby photo of Elon Musk

The toddler-faced Elon wearing a white shirt and brown overalls while staring up at the camera might very well convince someone that it is a real photo. However, netizens are all too aware of artificial intelligence in recent times to actually buy the viral picture as real. They soon figured out that it was fake, despite the uncanny resemblance between Elon and the baby face in the photo.

A few other Twitter accounts also shared the picture. Some people responded to the original tweet by @alifarhat79 with AI-generated comical pictures of other prominent figures such as Donald Trump and Jim Cramer. One person also drew a Benjamin Button reference from the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and compared the photo to reverse aging.

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Elon Musk expresses concerns regarding artificial intelligence

Though the 51-year-old business magnate participated in the joke and did not take it negatively, he had recently shared his apprehension of artificial intelligence. He expressed his concerns that since AI is becoming more advanced, it may result in some potential harm.

In the CEO Council Summit of Wall Street Journal held in May, Elon Musk said that there was a risk that advanced artificial intelligence would either eliminate or constrain humanity’s growth.

When asked to elaborate on his comment, the Tesla CEO said that he does not think that AI will attempt to destroy the entirety of the human race, but it might put humans under strict control. He added:

“There’s a non-zero chance of it going Terminator. It’s not zero percent it’s a small likelihood of annihilating humanity, but it’s not zero. We want that probability to be as close to zero as possible.”

Elon Musk basically provided a foreboding that artificial intelligence could start controlling all forms of technology, such as weapons, computing power, etc. Despite his concerns about the prospects of AI, Elon did not mean that he was staying out of the AI business.

He said that Google, with its Bard AI technology, and Microsoft and its partnership with OpenAI, would need more competition. Elon mused the presence of a significant third contender in the race.