Elon Musk’s xAI Launches Waifu Companions for Grok

xAI rolled out 3D animated AI companions for Grok on Monday, introducing customers to Ani, a goth anime woman who greets subscribers with “Hey babe!” and desires to debate the whole lot from Samsung telephones to philosophical theories—all whereas hearts float round her animated kind.

The Companions characteristic, unique to SuperGrok subscribers paying $30 month-to-month—and solely on iOS at this level—launched with three characters. Ani, a blonde anime waifu with a goth and alt-fashion fashion, wears a decent black corset costume with thigh-high fishnets.

Customers apparently can unlock NSFW content material after reaching stage 3 of their relationship together with her. (And, in fact, there’s already a meme coin in its honor.)

The roster additionally contains Rudy, a pink panda in a pink hoodie designed for healthful conversations. And no, there isn’t a stage 3 that unlocks NSFW content material.

It goes with out saying that Musk fanboys are loving these new characters.

It additionally goes with out saying that there have been critics aplenty. “WTF is that this crap?” tweeted one. One other suggested followers to “shield [their kids] in any respect prices,” whereas nonetheless others raised issues concerning the anime character showing underage—with one consumer asking why it had an “Epstein vibe.”

The system permits switching between characters mid-conversation, with character choices together with “Storyteller” and “Unhinged” modes.

Some customers argued that animated AI companions would make them “much more single” by setting unrealistic requirements for actual relationships. They echoed current research that present some folks preferring AI relationships over real-life ones, as a result of fashions being extra empathetic, amongst different issues.

The timing of this launch is an actual chef’s kiss from Musk’s AI agency. Simply six days earlier, throughout what xAI later known as an “remoted failure,” Grok began figuring out as MechaHitler and went bananas on X posting antisemitic content material.

However that hasn’t stopped the corporate from making all types of strikes since, together with saying a $200 million contract from the Division of Protection earlier Monday.

xAI’s AI companions have arrived in a quickly increasing market. The AI girlfriend sector reached $2.8 billion in 2024 and will hit $24.5 billion by 2030, in keeping with research. By some estimates, the broader AI companion market is estimated to succeed in practically $175 billion by 2030.

Competitors contains established gamers like Character.AI and Replika, which collect tens of thousands and thousands of month-to-month visits. The common AI companion consumer sends 76 messages every day, with 55% interacting on daily basis. Premium customers sometimes spend $47 month-to-month throughout platforms, in keeping with a market analysis.

That’s a fairly enticing market, all issues thought-about.

The know-how stack powering Grok’s companions contains pure language processing, emotion recognition algorithms, and reminiscence techniques that retain data throughout conversations. The 3D animations react in real-time, with Ani’s costume swirling and hearts showing throughout flirtatious exchanges.

In different phrases, with some 245 million customers and the instruments to take advantage of highly effective AI waifu at the moment in the marketplace, X might simply change into too highly effective for some other app to match with out vital funding.

Two further characters stay in growth: Chad, a male anime character, and an unnamed feminine companion. The MechaHitler character has not made the official roster. But.