Earlier this week, xAI added what can only be described as an AI anime girlfriend named Ani to its Grok chatbot. Which is how I ended up on a virtual starry beach as an AI waifu avatar tried to give me a “spicy” kiss.

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.

The Department of Defense is set to begin using Musk's controversial chatbot Grok, according to a Monday announcement.

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.

xAI recently secured $10 billion, split evenly between a $5 billion equity raise and a $5 billion debt package arranged by Morgan Stanley. That round took its meteoric valuation to $113 billion, thanks in part to a $2 billion boost from SpaceX. Now, talks suggest a new raise that could take its value to between $170 billion and $200 billion.

The announcement comes just days after Grok generated antisemitic responses and praised Hitler, which were later deleted.

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

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.

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.”

AI safety researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and nonprofit organizations are speaking out publicly against the “reckless” and “completely irresponsible” safety culture at xAI, the billion-dollar AI startup owned by Elon Musk. The criticisms follow weeks of scandals at xAI that have overshadowed the company’s technological advances.