Exposing the Chinese Elon Musk

You may have seen a Chinese man going viral on TikTok and other places for looking remarkably like Elon Musk. He’s attracted quite a bit of international media coverage with even Elon Musk himself saying he’d be willing to meet his doppelgänger, provided he isn’t an AI deepfake. And that seems to be the question that a lot of people have. I wanted to get to the bottom of this, so I reached out to him, and this is the first interview he’s ever granted to anybody, so I’m really excited to find out what Yilong Ma is all about.

Follow him on social media:

0:00 Introduction
0:38 Difficulty speaking English
1:36 Who is Yilong Ma?
3:04 When and why did he start making videos?
6:37 Is he a deepfake?
7:25 His thoughts on Elon Musk and why AI is good
9:40 His thoughts on ChatGPT
11:10 His thoughts on how Neuralink will cure all disease
14:27 Negative consequences of AI
16:25 How has life changed since going viral
18:09 Does he want to meet Elon Musk?
19:41 He literally loves Elon Musk
21:34 Final thoughts and teaching Yilong Ma English

LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE WITH MY METHOD!

✉️ Join my newsletter and discover how I pick up new languages quickly
(and learn how you can do the same):

📚 Check out my Street-Smart Language courses:

[KM-csdy]

The fact that he never allow anyone interviews him in real life. That pretty much tell your everything you need to know.

[srcazm]

It really doesn't matter if it is a filter or not. He wants to make people happy and he is certainly doing that. KEEP IT UP Yi Long Ma!

[willvr]

Deepfake is really scary. Imagine having to defend yourself in court for something you clearly didn't say or do, but facial recognition can't tell you apart from the AI generated image?

[xansuswanka]

As for people who don't understand a word of chinese, this man is kinda classy, he is well spoken and gentle. And from the way he speaks, his choice of words is well educated and elegant! It's really impressive because watching his video he was really trying to imitate Elon musk and was supposed to be funny . But the contrast is just too huge hahahahah and it was really awesome

[KingJojoB]

If you didn’t come from tiktok raise your hand 🤚🏽

[strokesimdone]

If people are able to deepfake video calls, we're all screwed.

[Superman_]

When you told that Chinese dude his Chinese is good as well 💀😂

[JAdam]

Wow! Yilong and XiaoMa, this video MADE MY DAY! What a wonderful, respectful interview this was! I was completely mesmerized by the how real and accurate the Deepfake was, but it kept me glued to the interview - and for people who don't understand Mandarin; ( I speak Cantonese and can understand Mandarin) - Yilong is absolutely eloquent, well-spoken and a deeply humble and kind person. I am dismissing all the shallow comments regarding his accent - reversed; can you speak a word of Mandarin? If not, hold your condescending tone and just enjoy this fun and mind-opening conversation with a wonderfully fun, kind and optimistic person. @Yilong you got yourself a new fan! I truly hope you will meet Elon Musk one day, so your dream comes true.
Again, what a wonderful and genuinely kind and fun interview!! Thanks!!!

[eclectic_gamer]

it would be funny if they turned off the filter and it actually turned out to be Elon Musk advertising his A.I 😂

[PhillipReece]

Wow! The resemblance is uncanny! Also no one should make fun of anyone's language capabilities. We're all trying the best we can.

[PierreMiniggio]

That's the crossover I'd never have expected but that I needed to see 😁

[itsalltakenup]

Comedy aside, it’s underrated how insightful he is in regards to AI

[dita]

Whoa, I've been waiting to get to know more about him and from this video, you can tell that he's a great person!

It doesn't matter even if it's a deepfake, he has made many people's days. Honestly, his lack in english made his videos really funny, but I hope that he can learn english soon so that he'll be able to interact more properly when he got to meet his idol.

Thank you for this interview!

[JNF]

“I’m a very optimistic person. I hope I can infect others with my positivity for life, especially for people going through hard times.”

Behind the memes, he’s so wholesome. He just wants to make people happy. I love that.

[Zerophoenix]

now this is the hard hitting journalism we really need in the world. really great work xiaoma

[xslonk]

My first interview question would be "can you turn your head slowly to the left, quickly to the right, slowly up, then quickly back down?" lol

[jameshitselberger]

This is a great interview and thank you for performing it. It has the right mix of empathy and curiosity. Many interviews, e.g. those performed on NPR, comprise of reading a list of questions. There is no involvement whatsoever by the interviewer with the subject. No reaction to any content and no possibility to seize upon new or surprising information. Your interviews differ and give relief to the standard canned interview.

[worldcrafter]

I’m happy to see that he is every bit as thoughtful and intelligent as he is funny. Great interview!

[TheAlienpope]

This is without a doubt AI. The main give away is he's being very careful not to turn his head too much. Other than that it's almost impossible to spot. Very impressive and scary!

[YenAmity]

His English is better than my Chinese.