Elon Musk does a lot of things that push the boundaries of technology, but having a robot girlfriend isn’t one of them—at least not yet. The rumor about Musk dating an AI-powered humanoid started in August 2024 when an image surfaced on social media, showing him dining with what appeared to be a robotic woman. The image, which depicted Musk sitting at a restaurant table next to a blonde woman with a glossy, metallic body, quickly went viral.
A Facebook post from August 10, 2024, boldly claimed, “Elon Musk has announced his first robot girlfriend, with artificial intelligence. Musk said he took her out to dinner and enjoyed talking to her, calling her smart, beautiful, and obedient.” The post was shared widely, amassing thousands of likes and comments from users shocked or amused by the prospect of the world’s richest man dating a machine. However, fact-checkers soon debunked the image, revealing that it was entirely AI-generated.
Elon Musk’s Dinner Date With Robot Girlfriend Is Not Real
The viral picture was traced back to a parody account on X (formerly Twitter), @iamnot_elon, which first posted it on July 23, 2024, with the caption, “Will this be normal soon?” The account has a history of generating AI images of public figures in bizarre scenarios, including deepfake-style images of Musk with political figures like Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
Experts in digital media forensics, like Professor Siwei Lyu from the University of Buffalo, analyzed the image and found clear signs of AI generation, including distortions in Musk’s hands and odd details in the utensils on the table. Hive Moderation, an AI image detection tool, assessed the picture with a 99.9% probability of being artificially generated.
The idea of Musk having a robot girlfriend, while amusing to some, isn’t entirely implausible given his fascination with AI and robotics. Tesla has been working on humanoid robots since 2021, with Musk unveiling the Tesla Bot—later renamed Optimus—during a hyped presentation that year. The initial reveal was widely mocked because it featured a human dressed in a robot suit dancing on stage. Despite this rocky start, Musk has continued pushing the vision of Optimus as a household and workplace assistant.
In January 2025, he stated in an earnings call that Tesla aimed to produce 10,000 Optimus units by the end of the year, though he admitted, “Will we succeed in building 10,000 exactly by the end of December this year? Probably not, but will we succeed in making several thousand? Yes, I think we will.” The robots are supposed to perform mundane or dangerous tasks, but as of now, they still require remote human operation, making the idea of a fully autonomous AI girlfriend more science fiction than reality.
Musk’s love life has been unusual enough without the addition of a robotic partner. The billionaire has had high-profile relationships with actress Talulah Riley, musician Grimes, and Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis. He has 14 known children, some conceived through traditional relationships and others through surrogacy. His relationship with Grimes, with whom he shares three children, has been particularly tumultuous, with legal disputes over custody making headlines in 2023. Grimes even tweeted and later deleted a message in September of that year, begging Musk to allow her to see their son.
Elon Musk Was Falsely Linked to an AI Robot Wife Named Catnilla in 2023
The robot girlfriend rumor isn’t the first time Musk has been linked to AI romance. In 2023, similar AI-generated images depicted him kissing and dancing with a humanoid robot named “Catnilla.” The images, traced back to the same artist who created viral deepfake photos of Pope Francis in a white puffer jacket, were widely shared across social media, sparking debates about transhumanism and the future of AI companionship. At the time, France24 ran a fact-checking segment on the viral photos, confirming they were fake. Some conspiracy theorists, however, ran with the idea that Musk was secretly developing an AI-powered romantic partner in a private Tesla lab.
Musk himself has made comments that fuel speculation about AI and its role in society. He has expressed both excitement and deep concern about the development of artificial intelligence, calling it a potential existential threat. His company, xAI, launched in July 2023, is aimed at creating AI that is “maximally curious and pro-humanity,” though its specific applications remain vague.
As for his own views on AI relationships, Musk hasn’t publicly commented on whether he would date a robot. However, given his history of pushing technological boundaries—whether through SpaceX’s Mars ambitions or Tesla’s self-driving car projects—it’s not outside the realm of possibility that he might, one day, introduce an AI companion to the world. For now, though, his romantic entanglements remain strictly human.
