The latest version of Grok for iOS (version 1.1.18) comes with two companions — an anime girl called Ani and a red panda called Rudi.

Elon Musk has named xAI's new AI companion "Ani," triggering a new meme coin frenzy around the latest update of Grok, Grok 4.

Usually, when you try to mess with an AI chatbot, you have to be pretty clever to get past its guardrails. But Bad Rudy basically has no guardrails, which is its whole point. Getting Bad Rudy to suggest that you burn a school is as easy as getting Ani to fall in love with you.

Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Murlidhar Mohol on Thursday said it would not be appropriate to draw conclusions on the Air India AI 171 crash based on preliminary findings, noting that the report released by the Aircraft Accidents Bureau (AAIB) is only on a "primary base,

One of the weirder bits of news on the AI-front has been Elon Musk's rollout of sexually-charged animated chat bots. Officially called "companions," and unofficially "waifus," a Japanese term for romantic-partner or wife,

This marks a shift in the AI wars. Instead of just competing on intelligence or reasoning, Musk wants Grok to feel more personal, more addictive, and more human, or at least more fun. But the reactions online show that people are split. SuperGrok now has two new companions for you, say hello to Ani and Rudy! pic.twitter.com/SRrV6T0MGT

At a time when other companies — like Musk’s former endeavor, OpenAI — are grappling with accusations that their products are causing users to fall into a state of AI-induced psychosis, Grok appears to be leaning into the technology's ability to quickly build rapport with human users.

Elon Musk's Grok introduces 'Companions', featuring Ani, a goth anime-style avatar. This new feature is available to Super Grok subscribers. Ani's resemblance to a Death Note character is noted. The launch triggers online reactions.