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Ashley St. Clair and Alex Gibney on AI and the dangers of Elon Musk

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Cite

Bahr, L. (2026, September 8). Ashley St. Clair and Alex Gibney on AI and the dangers of Elon Musk. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/ashley-st-clair-and-alex-gibney-on-ai-and-the-dangers-of-elon-musk/article_d737f2ae-3b55-5b17-8f23-51bb669cba45.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Toronto Star · collected 2026-09-08 · by Lindsey Bahr

Quick Summary

Filmmaker Alex Gibney has created a documentary about Elon Musk, featuring an AI avatar that interviews him using quotes from past interviews. The film's world premiere was held in Venice on Tuesday. The use of AI is intentionally ironic, referencing Musk's own notion that we live in a simulation and highlighting the contradictions in his views on technology. Gibney stated that the goal is to contrast the reality of Musk's actions with the unreality of his narrative.
Written by AI on 2026-09-08, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Documentarian Alex Gibney has made a new film, "Musk", which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. The film explores the life and power of Elon Musk, including his childhood trauma, his rise in Silicon Valley, and his involvement in right-wing politics internationally. Gibney believes Musk is extremely dangerous to democracy and thinks he's stoking fires that could be catastrophic if not regulated. The documentary also features an interview with Ashley St. Clair, a former conservative influencer who has a child with Musk and appears in the film, discussing their relationship and her experience with his AI company. In an ironic twist, the filmmakers used an Artificial Intelligence avatar to simulate an interview with Musk using things he's said in interviews, referencing his own theory that we're living in a simulation. The documentary is set for release in October through Bleecker Street.

Written for “Elon Musk's Influence and Power” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 3 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Elon Musk's Influence and Power
Politics · 4 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Independent
Hedges 1 of 16 claims Outlet record 59/100
Toronto Star
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 55 claims Outlet record 64/100
The Independent
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 57 claims Outlet record 59/100
Fox News
Hedges 3 of 21 claims Outlet record 70/100
“Article A discusses a protest network, while Article B mentions a documentary about Elon Musk using AI”
CBC News
Hedges 4 of 39 claims Outlet record 74/100
“Article A refers to a specific AI hack incident that occurred in July, while Article B mentions an unrelated documentary about Elon Musk using AI”
Semafor
Hedges 2 of 29 claims Outlet record 60/100
“Article A mentions a hypothetical scenario where filmmakers use AI in a Hollywood movie, while Article B describes an actual documentary using AI to simulate an interview with Elon Musk”
The Straits Times
Hedges 3 of 24 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A discusses a documentary about Elon Musk, while Article B reports on an AI researcher quitting their job at Anthropic due to concerns over AI development, with no clear connection between the two.”
Mother Jones
Hedges 8 of 44 claims Outlet record 95/100
“Article A describes a documentary being shown at the Venice premiere, while Article B discusses an AI researcher's resignation and concerns about AI safety”
South China Morning Post
Hedges 4 of 7 claims Outlet record 64/100
“Article A mentions a speech by UN rights chief Volker Turk, while Article B discusses a documentary about Elon Musk with an AI avatar interview”
The Straits Times
Hedges 2 of 8 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A reports on a warning from UN rights chief Volker Turk about AI posing an existential risk to humanity, while Article B discusses a documentary film that uses AI to simulate an interview with Elon Musk”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
4
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 4 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
64/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
4
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-08 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Toronto Star · 10621 article(s) · 27 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 27 correction(s)
2026-10-26
Correction
2026-10-24
Correction
2026-10-07
Correction
2026-09-24
Correction

Who wrote this

Lindsey Bahr
7 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
🔮 And it would win her the Golden Globe for most promising newcomer.
🔮 After a lifetime of dreaming in Jane Austen — reading every novel and watching every adaptation she could get her hands on — she’d been cast as Elinor, the elder, more sensible Dashwood sister, in “Sense and Sensibility” (in theaters Friday).
🔮 St. Clair said she believes he’s stoking fires and “causing deliberate division that could be catastrophic if it’s not regulated or contained.” With a runtime of nearly four hours, “Musk” delves into his traumatic childhood, including an interview with his father, Errol Musk, and traces his early days in Silicon Valley through his DOGE work with the second Donald Trump administration and involvement in right-wing politics internationally.
🔮 Of all the roles Ellen Burstyn might have been offered in her 90s, that of Marilyn Monroe, who died at 36, seemed fairly unlikely.
🔮 A number of people came to me a few years ago, actually early 2023, and said, would you like to make a film about him?
🔮 A number of people came to me a few years ago, actually early 2023, and said, would you like to make a film about him?
Also by Lindsey Bahr
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 7 articles by Lindsey Bahr →

Topics

Italy SpaceX Tesla VENICE

Subjects

VENICE GPE · 2× Alex Gibney PERSON · 1× Elon Musk PERSON · 1× Gibney PERSON · 1× Italy GPE · 1× Musk PERSON · 1× SpaceX ORG · 1× Tesla ORG · 1×

Narrative

VENICE, Italy (AP) — A new documentary about Elon Musk uses an Artificial Intelligence avatar to simulate an interview with the SpaceX and Tesla CEO using things he’s really said in interviews.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-08
2026-09-08 · Toronto Star
Ashley St. Clair and Alex Gibney on AI and the dangers of Elon Musk · assertive framing

Claims (4 extracted, 0 hedged)

VENICE, Italy (AP) — A new documentary about Elon Musk uses an Artificial Intelligence avatar to simulate an interview with the SpaceX and Tesla CEO using things he’s really said in interviews. asserted
he → use → interviews
The choice, filmmaker Alex Gibney said Tuesday in Venice before the film’s world premiere, was intentionally ironic. asserted
Gibney → say → premiere
It both references Musk’s proposition that we’re all living in a simulation and pokes at his somewhat paradoxical and shifting views of the technology. asserted
we → reference → technology
Gibney said it is to convey the “reality of what he’s done and unreality of his narrative.” asserted
he → say → narrative
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