In mid-November 2025, an AI-generated video claiming to be Elon Musk unveiled a £621 ($789) Tesla Pi Phone with built-in Neuralink 'mind control' went mega-viral, racking up tens of millions of views across TikTok, WhatsApp and X.
Trending Google searches for Tesla Pi Phone, Neuralink phone, mind control smartphone, Elon Musk phone hoax, AI deepfake Musk, Starlink phone, thought control tech, brain chip phone, Tesla smartphone 2025 and Neuralink implants surged as people debated whether the future had arrived.
The truth it is 100% fake – but Neuralink's actual 2025 human trials are already letting paralysed patients move robotic arms and cursors with thought alone, making the hoax feel eerily prophetic.
How the Tesla Pi Phone Hoax was Manufactured
The clip, first posted on TikTok on 12 November 2025 by user @techleaks2025 (now suspended), shows a convincingly deepfaked Musk on stage announcing a solar-charging phone that needs no SIM, connects directly to Starlink, and uses Neuralink to let users type, pay, drive Tesla cars or unlock doors purely by thinking.
@noluybpyr and many others posted on Tiktok:
@noluybpyr phone tesla #news #technology #phone #tesla
♬ 原聲 - noluybpyr
Fact-checkers quickly confirmed the footage is entirely AI-fabricated, with mismatched lip-sync, impossible lighting and zero trace on any official Tesla, xAI or Neuralink channel.
Musk himself has repeatedly shot down smartphone rumours, once stating the idea 'makes me want to die.' Yet the video's slick production and perfect exploitation of public fascination with his companies allowed it to spread like wildfire before platforms removed it.
Why These Hoaxes Keep Working
This is at least the fifth major Tesla Pi Phone hoax cycle since 2021, but the 2025 version is the most convincing yet because of rapidly advancing AI video tools. Mario Nawfal posted on X: 'SORRY, THERE'S NO TESLA PI PHONE – IT'S AN AI HOAX. That viral video showing Elon unveiling a mind-controlled, solar-charged Tesla smartphone? Totally fake. Fact-checkers confirmed it.'
SORRY, THERE’S NO TESLA PI PHONE - IT’S AN AI HOAX
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) November 17, 2025
That viral video showing Elon unveiling a mind-controlled, solar-charged Tesla smartphone? Totally fake.
Fact-checkers say it’s stitched together from AI graphics, recycled CGI, and pure hype - with zero evidence from Tesla,… https://t.co/mQkMjBNFGb pic.twitter.com/BUoTmlxUHu
The hoax preys on genuine excitement about Starlink + Neuralink synergy while fearmongering about 'mind control' drives shares. Scammers have already started fake pre-order sites stealing deposits.
As deepfake technology improves faster than detection, these fabricated product launches are becoming the new frontier of disinformation.
Neuralink's Real 2025 Breakthroughs
While the phone is fiction, Neuralink implanted its twelfth patient in November 2025, with the first UK recipient and participant Nick Wray demonstrating robotic arm control using only his thoughts. Patients now play games, browse the web, and even control Tesla vehicles (with software overrides) via brain signals alone – exactly the capability the hoax promised in a consumer device.
The CONVOY study is expanding, aiming for vision restoration implants in 2026. Unlike the hoax, real Neuralink runs on rigorous FDA oversight, focuses exclusively on medical need, and remains years from consumer availability. Yet the irony is stark: the 'crazy' future the fake video sold is already here – just not in your pocket.
The Tesla Pi Phone hoax succeeded because it told people what they desperately want to believe: that Musk has secretly solved everything overnight. Reality is slower, ethical, and medical-first, but genuinely revolutionary. As AI deepfakes grow indistinguishable from truth, the line between satirical exaggeration and dangerous deception is vanishing – and the real mind-reading tech is advancing quietly in clinics, not on stage.
