Elon Musk on Wednesday teased a forthcoming male Grok companion from xAI, which already offers an anime waifu named Ani and a red panda named Rudi.

In a familiar critique of corporate structures, Musk also weighed in on the ideal environment for fostering such long-term, existentially focused AI. He declared, “For long-term optimization, it is better to be a private than a public company, as the latter is punished for long-term optimization beyond the reward cycle of stock portfolio managers.”

Over the weekend, visitors at Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, spotted a massive bust of Elon Musk being carted around by a pickup. A sign attached to the figure read “MAKE AMERICA WAIT AGAIN” and “Now With Longer Lines Thanks to DOGE Cuts!”

One of the new “companions,” or AI characters for users to interact with, is a sexualized blonde anime bot called “Ani."

Ani, an anime avatar wearing a tight black dress, was launched the same day the tech billionaire was awarded a $200 million Department of Defense contract.

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.

Kyle Chayka Staff writer covering technology and internet culture.

Earlier today, Grok showed me how to tell if someone is a “good scientist,” just from their demographics. For starters, according to a formula devised by Elon Musk’s chatbot, they have to be a white, Asian, or Jewish man.

A $440 million data center with an odd name is going up in Bastrop County, the suburban Austin hub of several of Elon Musk’s companies.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk piled on to ongoing MAGA outrage against President Donald Trump and his administration in a late-night posting spree over their handling of the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking case.