An exhaustive, four-hour documentary chronicling the rise of tech billionaire Elon Musk is set to hit theaters on Oct. 16, offering a chilling look at the Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink founder. Directed by Alex Gibney, the filmmaker behind "Citizen K," the documentary "Musk" premiered on Sept. 8 at the Venice Film Festival, with simultaneous press screenings held in New York. The film presents a series of explosive allegations regarding Musk's business practices, political maneuvers, and highly turbulent personal life, drawing on interviews with journalists, former associates, and past romantic partners.
Among the documentary's most serious business allegations is a horrific examination of dozens of deaths linked to Tesla’s driver-assistance systems. The film alleges that Musk, 55, has been systematically dishonest about the actual capabilities and shortcomings of the technology. Furthermore, "Musk" claims that the once-apolitical billionaire has courted right-wing politicians globally to secure business incentives for Tesla and SpaceX. It alleges that his recent alignment with President Donald Trump is strategically aimed at halting federal investigations into his companies that were initiated during the Biden administration.
Ashley St. Clair, a 28-year-old former conservative influencer who dated Musk for two years and shares a 1-year-old son, Romulus, with him, provides critical testimony in the film. "Elon went pretty hardcore Trump," St. Clair says in the documentary, adding that compared to Biden, "Trump is a much easier president to buy." Musk did not participate in the documentary and has previously dismissed Gibney's project as a "hit piece." A representative for Musk did not immediately return requests for comment regarding the film's claims.
The documentary also raises deep political and national security concerns, suggesting that Musk possesses unprecedented access to the personal data of American citizens. This access is allegedly fueled by his 2022 acquisition of X, formerly known as Twitter, alongside his pivotal role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The film notes that DOGE employed many of Musk's young staffers to slash funding across federal government agencies. St. Clair recalls texting with Musk on the night of the 2024 presidential election. After she texted, "I think we’re gonna win," Musk allegedly replied, "I knew that hours ago. We have the best real-time data." St. Clair remarks to Gibney that she had never before witnessed such a degree of certainty. In another text exchange shown in the film, Musk mentions having major plans for his Starlink satellite internet service. When St. Clair asks him not to elaborate out of fear she might be "deposed," Musk responds, "Very wise." St. Clair questions Musk's ultimate intentions, asking Gibney, "What is Elon building? What are his goals? What are his actual motivations? Do we even know this man at all?"
Further alarms are sounded regarding the Department of War's use of Grok, an artificial intelligence tool developed by Musk's company. Grok faced intense backlash earlier this year for generating nonconsensual, sexualized images of real-life women and underage girls. Geoffrey Hinton, widely recognized as the "godfather of AI," appears in the documentary to voice his concerns over Musk's deep government connections and the potential for his technology to be used for surveillance or political collusion. "It’s fairly clear to me that Trump is hellbent on corrupting the midterm elections," Hinton states in the film. "If you wanted to corrupt those midterm elections and you wanted to use AI, all you needed to do was get detailed information on U.S. citizens. And what DOGE did looked like just what you would do."
The documentary also delves deeply into Musk's private life through extensive interviews with St. Clair and Justine Musk, his first wife. Justine, who was married to Musk for eight years, describes a relationship where she was frequently made to feel "insignificant" and spoken to like an employee. "I learned the term ‘gaslighting’ through my relationship with Elon," Justine tells Gibney, recalling that as they danced at their wedding, Musk told her, "I am the alpha in this relationship." She adds that he was constantly pointing out ways he found her lacking.
Musk is publicly known to have fathered 14 children with four women, including a son, Nevada, who died in infancy. In 2024, Musk publicly claimed that his daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, now 22, had died, asserting she was "killed by the woke mind virus" when she transitioned. Justine refutes this framing in the film, stating, "We actually went through the actual death of an actual child – what’s happening here is Jenna is growing up." Justine alleges that after their daughter came out as transgender, Musk made no effort to mend their relationship. "Elon never tried to repair things. That’s not in his nature," Justine says, adding that Musk told her, "Make sure Jenna knows how much I’ll always love her," only to cut off her health insurance the very next day.
St. Clair also shares emotional accounts of Musk's interactions with other partners. She tears up while describing watching Musk block the phone number of his ex-partner, Grimes, while Grimes was actively pleading for custody of their three children. St. Clair further alleges that Musk's right-hand man, Jared Birchall, pressured her to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to hide the fact that Musk had fathered her son, Romulus. Under the proposed agreement, St. Clair would have received a $15 million lump sum plus monthly payments of $100,000 for 21 years. When she refused to sign, she claims the $15 million was withheld, leaving her with only $20,000 a month in child support. St. Clair describes Birchall's behavior as "very adversarial," stating, "I don’t know how to categorize someone who degrades and borderline threatens a woman who is freshly postpartum… This was financial retaliation for speaking out."
Finally, the documentary explores Musk's pronatalist ideology, which asserts that global population growth is necessary to prevent social and economic collapse. The film suggests Musk may have "many more" children than the 14 currently known to the public. St. Clair claims that after her public dispute with Musk, she received messages from other young women whom Musk had allegedly messaged with offers to father children. St. Clair alleges, "He told me that he wanted to use surrogates because it was the only way we could create ‘a legion of children before the civil war.’"
