Elon Musk has become an armed robber using his own artificial intelligence system Grok in a deepfake video.
The technology has also been used to create fake videos of high-profile figures including Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and Vladimir Putin committing crimes.
A fake clip shows Musk burning down a convenience store using a flash gun, before being arrested and handcuffed by police.
Later in the same video, Trump is shown entering a store while threatening staff at gunpoint and his rival Kamala Harris and Vladimir Putin are shown being arrested for similar crimes.
The former president is seen wearing an orange jersey and carrying two black pistols, as shopkeepers follow him with their arms raised, before he is led away by officers.
Ms Harris, her Democratic rival, is then shown screaming as she is detained by uniformed officers.
Elon Musk has been pictured threatening staff with a flamethrower gun at a convenience store in a deepfake video using his own Grok artificial intelligence system
Musk’s technology was also used to show Donald Trump threatening staff with a gun.
Joe Biden, the current president, is depicted threatening staffers, but from a wheelchair, in a nod to the questions about his age and ability that plagued his re-election campaign before he dropped out of the nomination last month.
The deepfake videos were created by artificial intelligence studio The Dor Brothers, Indianapolis 100 reported.
Sharing the clips on Musk’s platform X, the studio wrote: “Someone said uncensored! Thanks @grok for letting us all have a little fun.”
Other figures who received the deepfake treatment in the clip include Putin, former US President Barack Obama, Mark Zuckerberg and Pope Francis.
A noticeably younger version of the Russian president is shown holding a gold coin and pointing it at shop staff before being arrested.
Facebook co-founder Mr Zuckerberg is given a baseball bat as a weapon and is depicted with a reptile sitting on his shoulder as he walks around the store.
The three figures are shown escorted by a large group of officers.
Many users took to the social media site to comment on the increasingly blurred line between real and fake clips.
Some suggested the technology could allow people to be “manipulated” through fake videos.
A deepfake clip of Kamala Harris carrying a large gun in a store
The clip also showed Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg walking through a store holding a baseball bat and with a reptile on his shoulder.
Current President Joe Biden is pictured holding a cane at gunpoint while in a wheelchair
Russian President Vladimir Putin was shown committing crimes with a golden gun
The deepfake clip also showed former President Barack Obama holding a large knife in a supermarket.
Pope Francis was shown holding a pair of guns as he appeared to rob a store
The deepfake clip was created by artificial intelligence studio The Dor Brothers, using Elon Musk’s Grok system.
One commented: “This is the scary part. No matter what side you’re on, even if there was actual video evidence of people committing crimes, it can be dismissed as AI.
“This technology is getting better and better and many people will be easily fooled or manipulated.”
This comes amid alarm over a wave of misinformation in the run-up to the US presidential election in November, amid concerns that deepfake videos could turn people towards or away from candidates.
Musk himself faced criticism last week for sharing a fake clip of Harris, in which a voiceover imitates the vice president calling Biden “senile.”
