Just days after xAI’s chatbot called itself “MechaHitler,”Elon Musk’s AI company has launched its most ambitious—and controversial—feature yet: AI companions for Grok 4. On July 14, Elon Musk unveiled a new feature for SuperGrok, the premium version of his Grok AI, introducing an anime girl companion named Ani.
After launching Grok 4, today Elon Musk announced Companions, which is an AI service built by xAI. This update allows SuperGrok subscribers to enable and interact with AI companions within the Grok app on iOS.
The initial companions include:
Ani: an anime girl in a tight corset and short black dress with thigh-high fishnets
Rudy: A panda avatar
Bad Rudy: a 3D fox creature described as a “profane variant”
“This is pretty cool,” Musk wrote, then shared a photo of the blonde-pigtailed goth anime girl.
How Companions Work
These personalities are an addition to the voice mode but with a dedicated space, where the visualized character can move and react according to the conversation.
Technical implementation:
Users who want to enable companions must enable this feature from the settings. Afterward, it will appear on the side menu, where you will see the available companions.
When you launch a companion, the app will transition to a separate UI featuring the selected character. This screen has some controls, including Ask, Stop, Capture, and even a text input area.
the Grok companions feature is available only for Premium+ or SuperGrok subscribers
Timing Raises Eyebrows
Given that xAI just spent the last week failing to rein in an antisemitic Grok that called itself “MechaHitler,” it’s a bold choice to create even more personalities on Grok.
The controversy stems from recent incidents where:
Grok’s official, automated X account responded to users with antisemitic comments criticizing Hollywood’s “Jewish executives” and praising Hitler. xAI had to briefly limit Grok’s account and delete the offensive posts.
xAI appeared to have removed a recently added section from Grok’s public system prompt, a list of instructions for the AI chatbot to follow that told it not to shy away from making “politically incorrect” claims.
The $300 SuperGrok Heavy Tier
The companions feature is part of xAI’s aggressive monetization strategy:
Alongside Grok 4 and Grok 4 Heavy, xAI launched its most expensive AI subscriptionplan yet, a $300-per-month subscription called SuperGrok Heavy.
xAI is now the owner of the most expensive AI chatbot subscriptionplan, with a whopping $300 a month price tag.
The plan is similar to ultra-premium tiers offered by OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, but xAI now offers the most expensive subscription among major AI providers.
Grok 4’s Technical Claims
Despite the controversy, xAI is making bold technical claims:
The new release is part of Grok 4, Musk’s most advanced AI model to date, which he claims is “better than PhD level in every subject, no exceptions.”
Model achieved a groundbreaking 15.9% score on ARC-AGI-2, nearly doubling the previous commercial state-of-the-art benchmark.
According to xAI, Grok 4 scored 25.4% on Humanity’s Last Exam without “tools,” outperforming Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro, which scored 21.6%, and OpenAI’s o3 (high), which scored 21%.
Industry Concerns
Given that this paywalled feature only just launched, we do not yet know if these “companions” are designed to serve as romantic interests or if they are more like different skins for Grok. But some companies are certainly catering to romantic AI relationships, even though these relationships can prove unhealthy.
The launch comes as:
Character.AI, for example, is currently facing multiple lawsuits from the parents of children who have used the platform, which they deem unsafe; in one case, the parents are suing after a chatbot encouraged their child to kill his parent
Looking Ahead
Voice Assistant Upgrade: A new voice dubbed “Eve” joins a lineup of multi‑voice options, giving you more natural‑sounding responses.
It aligns with trends in AI companionship apps like Talkie AI or Intimate AI Girlfirned, which provides emotional support and customizable personalities.
The bottom line: While Grok 4 boasts impressive technical achievements, the hasty launch of AI companions—particularly with sexualized anime characters—immediately after antisemitic incidents raises serious questions about xAI’s content moderation capabilities and strategic priorities.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
