Fact Check: Is Elon Musk heading to Moscow?

Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk has been hyping the release of his new AI chatbot service, Grok, over the past month, claiming it will rival ChatGPT.

The tech billionaire, who has seen the value of X fall by half since he bought it as Twitter, has been appearing at events across the globe recently, discussing the development of AI technologies, including his efforts.

Amid this promotional effort, a rumor spread that Musk would be heading to Moscow next week, joining Russian government officials and tech developers.

The Claim

A post on X, formerly Twitter, by user @reshetz, aka Mira of Kyiv, posted on November 13, 2023, and viewed 436,600 times, included a screenshot depicting a report that stated "Elon Musk to Speak at Russian AI Journey Conference in Moscow."

X user @reshetz commented above the screenshot: "russian wives may start receiving Teslas instead of Ladas."

Another post by Ukraine influencer Maria Drutska, posted on November 14, 2023, viewed 138,300 times, said: "Elon Musk is heading to Russia, where he will participate in a conference on artificial intelligence—AI Journey 2023—as reported by EUReporter.

"Musk's involvement in the Russian conference on artificial intelligence may be related to his recent announcement of the Grok neural network from xAI, which is positioned as a competitor to ChatGPT.

"Musk is expected to speak at the event, with the possibility that his participation may be limited to an online format, according to the publication."

The Facts

Searching for the headline in the post on X revealed an article by website Bollyinside. This article attributed the claim to another website, EU Reporter.

EU Reporter's article, headlined "Elon Musk will speak at the Russian AI Conference" however, cited only anonymous sources.

It stated: "According to our sources, the billionaire and the owner of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk will be a speaker at the upcoming international conference on artificial intelligence in Russia, which is going to be held in the near future—AI Journey 2023."

The AI Journey Conference is a tech event organized by Sberbank, a Russian majority state-owned bank based in Moscow. According to the U.S. Treasury, it is one of Russia's largest financial institutions. The U.S. government introduced sanctions against Sberbank following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Hundreds of Western companies have pulled out of Russia since the invasion and the Russian government has seized control of the assets of others.

The conference organizers have told Newsweek that Elon Musk is not booked to attend the event.

A spokesperson for AI Journey 2023 said: "Elon Musk's participation in the AI Journey 2023 conference was not planned. However, if he wants to join AI Journey, we will be glad to see him among our speakers."

Newsweek has contacted X and Tesla media representatives via email for comment.

Musk does not appear on the AI Journey 2023 Conference itinerary. The event's website, which provides scant information about its purpose or location, describes it as "A major online conference in the field of artificial intelligence technologies." It will be held between 22-24 November 2023.

The event organizer told Newsweek the event will "focus on cutting-edge AI solutions, their contribution to new scientific discoveries, business development, social progress, and AI promotion among the younger generations."

Colin Stevens, editor-in-chief of EU Reporter, told Newsweek that while the source of its story was "a normally reliable tech senior executive based in the USA", it had changed the article to reflect Musk's absence in the itinerary. Its headline now reads "Will Elon Musk speak at the Russian AI Conference."

The event features a largely Russian group of conference speakers, including Science and Higher Education Minister Valery Falkov.

Community Notes, a comment system on X that allows users to submit context and additional detail to posts on the platform, stated under the post by @reshetz that Musk was not on the conference itinerary, adding that organizers had confirmed his absence.

Musk could, in theory, make a last-minute or secretive appearance. However, there is no evidence that suggests he will.

The Ruling

False.

A spokesperson for the AI Journey Conference 2023 in Moscow told Newsweek that Elon Musk has not been booked for the event. Musk is not listed in the event's itinerary and there is no evidence elsewhere that suggests he will attend.

The original claim was based on one online news report which claimed it had been told about Musk's appearance by anonymous sources.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team