Elon Musk’s Grok adds anime girl in lingerie, and people have questions

A new face has arrived in the world of AI and she looks straight out of an anime. Meet Ani, an energetic, anime-styled virtual assistant recently introduced as part of the latest update to SuperGrok, the premium version of Elon Musk’s AI chatbot.

Ani made her debut with the rollout of “Companions,” a feature quietly introduced on July 14 that allows users to interact with AI avatars in visually expressive forms. The launch is part of Grok 4, Musk’s most advanced language model yet, which he has claimed performs at a level beyond that of a PhD in all academic domains.

Ani’s appearance has sparked interest and comparisons. Fans on the social media platform X were quick to point out her striking resemblance to Misa Amane, a key character from the popular anime Death Note. While the developers have described Ani as a "non-copyrighted anime girl," the similarities haven’t gone unnoticed.

Some users believe the design was deliberately styled to evoke familiarity without infringing on intellectual property.

Although the Companions feature is currently accessible only by navigating manually through the app’s settings menu, Musk has stated this is merely a “soft launch,” with broader, more seamless access coming soon. The feature is available in the SuperGrok app by tapping the menu icon in the top left and accessing the settings gear in the bottom right.

Alongside Ani, users can interact with Rudy, a cartoonish red panda, and his edgier alter ego, Bad Rudy, who’s described as more blunt and unfiltered. A male anime-style character named Chad is also in development and listed as “coming soon.”

Interestingly, Ani reportedly features an NSFW (Not Safe For Work) mode, where the character appears in lingerie, a decision that has raised eyebrows, especially in light of recent controversies involving Grok.