Is the new Elon Musk at the beach photo real?

AI is making it harder than ever to sort fact from fiction online, especially when it comes to digitally altered images, and Elon Musk has become the latest victim of disinformation online.

A fake image purporting to show the Twitter/X CEO topless has been doing the rounds on social media but it's just that - a fake.

The picture, which purports to show Musk in a towel by the beach, seems to have first been posted on April 24, and it’s gained enough attention to have been covered on the viral site Know Your Meme.

The site, which collates viral trends, debunked the photo and reported that it was likely first posted by Twitter/X account Liam Nissan (@theliamnissan).

A description on the site reads: “The image has been AI generated: Elon Musk's weird-looking right hand, a bizarre choker on his neck, and an unnatural gloss of his towel completely give it away.”

The image is a fake, but there were real topless photos of Musk that came to the attention of the internet back in 2022.

Back then, Musk revealed he'd lost over 20 pounds after he was pictured shirtless and out of shape on a boat.

Musk's announcement comes one month after the Tesla CEO was photographed topless while vacationing in Mykonos, Greece. The photos led to body-shaming comments.

It comes after Musk recently made an alarming prediction about artificial intelligence, as he believes it will outsmart human intelligence by next year.

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