Elon Musk asks Grok to roast Billie Eilish over capitalism and luxury

MUMBAI: Things got a little intense on X, as Elon Musk revived his public sparring with singer Billie Eilish by asking his AI chatbot Grok to take aim at her views on capitalism, land rights and commercialism.

The exchange began after Eilish shared a behind-the-scenes promotional video for her fragrance, Eilish Intense, on X. Musk responded to the post by tagging Grok and asking it to “roast” what he described as a contradiction between Eilish’s criticism of capitalism and her commercial success and lifestyle.

Grok’s first response pointed to Eilish’s public criticism of capitalism and what she has described as stolen land, while highlighting her fragrance business and ownership of high-value property in Los Angeles.

Musk was not satisfied with the first attempt. He asked Grok to make the response longer, more vulgar and wittier, prompting the chatbot to produce a considerably harsher critique.

The second response accused Eilish of criticising capitalism while benefiting from it through her fragrance business and luxury lifestyle. It also referred to the historical Indigenous ownership of land in Los Angeles and argued that her commercial success sits uneasily alongside her public statements.

Musk appeared to approve of the revised version, replying that it was “a little better”.

The latest exchange adds another chapter to the increasingly public friction between the two figures.

Eilish has previously criticised extreme concentrations of wealth, including comments aimed at billionaires such as Musk. She has questioned why individuals with enormous fortunes do not use more of their wealth to address issues such as hunger and climate change.

The singer has also used major public platforms to speak about immigration and Indigenous land rights. During an awards acceptance speech, she drew attention with the statement that “no one is illegal on stolen land” and criticised federal immigration enforcement.

Those comments have provided some of the backdrop to Musk’s latest attack, which centres on whether someone can challenge capitalism and wealth inequality while simultaneously participating in the commercial system they criticise.

What makes the latest spat different is the role played by Grok. Rather than simply trading posts with Eilish, Musk effectively turned the AI chatbot into a digital sparring partner, directing it to formulate an attack and then asking it to make the response more pointed.

The episode also highlights a broader question around AI-generated commentary. Grok’s response was not an independent political analysis but an answer generated in response to a specific instruction from Musk. The resulting language therefore reflects the framing of the prompt as much as any underlying debate about Eilish’s views.

At the heart of the argument is a familiar tension between activism and participation in consumer culture. Eilish can criticise capitalism while selling products within that system, just as many artists, companies and activists navigate the same contradiction in their personal and professional lives.

For now, the feud has moved from a disagreement between two celebrities into something more unusual: a public argument in which one of the world’s most prominent technology executives is using his own AI chatbot to sharpen the punchlines.