Elon Musk has just unveiled “Companions,” a new feature for his AI chatbot, Grok, that allows users to interact with AI personas. These include Ani, a gothic anime girl who communicates with emojis, flirtatious messages, and facts, as well as Rudy, a friendly red panda.

Grok’s responses must come from “independent analysis,” not Musk’s stated beliefs. xAI has offered a couple more fixes for “issues” with its Grok AI chatbot, promising it will no longer name itself “Hitler” or base its responses on searches for what xAI head Elon Musk has said.

At launch, Grok AI’s Companions will be available to SuperGrok subscribers ($30 per month), who need to enable the feature from the app's settings. This is just a “soft launch,” and enabling the feature will get much easier in a few days, said xAI owner Elon Musk on Monday.

Elon Musk's AI startup xAI has announced a nearly $200 million contract with the US Department of Defense for developing AI tools for the agency. The news comes a week after xAI's foul-mouthed Grok chatbot had a full-blown Nazi meltdown,

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

AI explained why Grok 4 seemed to search for Elon Musk's opinions when asked about some hot-button topics.

The Department of Defense has announced contracts with four leading artificial intelligence companies, including Elon Musk's xAI, a week after its Grok chatbot allegedly disseminated racist rhetoric online.

This is the smartest AI in the world,” Musk said. He did not mention the chatbot’s viral posts praising Hitler and calling itself “MechaHitler.”