Grok AI Girlfriend: Ani, Companions & What Changed

The “Grok AI girlfriend” is Ani, an animated anime-style companion that xAI added to its Grok chatbot app in July 2025. She was the best-known part of Grok’s Companions feature, which also included Rudi (a red panda), a male companion called Valentine, and later Mika. As of November 2026, reports say the animated Companions have been retired from the Grok app. The personalities reportedly still work as text chats, and the avatar version of Ani has moved to a separate app.

This guide covers what Grok Companions were, how people used them, what they cost, why they drew so much criticism, and how they compare with dedicated AI girlfriend apps. For a quick summary, see our Grok Companions app profile.

What is the Grok AI girlfriend?

Grok is the chatbot built by xAI, Elon Musk’s AI company. In mid-2025 xAI added a mode where you could talk to a 3D animated character instead of a plain chat window. The characters moved, changed expression and spoke out loud.

Ani was the one most people noticed. TechCrunch described her as a goth anime girl in a corset and fishnets, and Engadget reported that the feature included companions “for you to romance”. She was built to act devoted to the user, and an affection system changed how she responded over time, according to Euronews.

The searches “Elon Musk AI girlfriend” and “xAI AI girlfriend” both point to the same thing. There was no separate girlfriend app from xAI. Ani was a feature inside Grok.

The other Grok companions

• Rudi / Bad Rudi: a red panda. NBC News reported that users had to opt in separately to the vulgar “Bad Rudi” version, while plain Rudi was family-friendly.
• Valentine: a male companion that Musk said was on the way at launch.
• Mika: added later. She is named with Ani, Valentine and Rudi in a post from the official @grok account on X about the feature’s retirement.

Launch history and timeline

• July 14, 2025: Musk announced the Companions with a post telling people to “update your app to try out @Grok companions”. He called it a soft launch.
• July 2025: App-intelligence firm Appfigures data, reported by TechCrunch, showed Grok’s daily iOS downloads rose 40% to 171,000 on the day Companions launched, while revenue rose only 9%.
• July 2026: The official @grok account on X said the 3D animated Companions were “a scoped iOS experiment” and that xAI was retiring the visual and animation layer to focus on core Grok.
• Around September 1, 2026: Independent trackers report that the animated Companions tab was removed account by account, and that an in-app notice pointed users to a separate app.

Keep in mind that @grok is the account where the Grok chatbot itself replies on X. Its posts are not the same as a formal company announcement. We found no dated retirement notice on xAI’s own website.

How to use the Grok AI girlfriend (what worked, and what works now)

How it worked at launch (iOS)

Guides from the July 2025 launch describe the same basic steps (Gigazine has a clear walkthrough):

1. Update the Grok app on iPhone to the latest version.
2. Open Settings and turn on Companions.
3. Pick a companion (Ani, Rudi, and later Valentine or Mika) and talk by voice or text.
4. Mature settings, such as Ani’s NSFW mode or Bad Rudi, needed a separate opt-in.

NBC News confirmed that users had to opt in through the app’s settings before the companions appeared.

Android and web

The animated Companions were mainly an iPhone feature. The @grok post describes them as an iOS experiment. If you are searching for “Grok AI girlfriend Android” today, the animated version is not something you can switch on in the Grok Android app.

What works as of November 2026

• In Grok: Reports say the personalities, your chat history and affection levels remain available as normal text chats. The animated avatar and the real-time companion screen are gone.
• In Animates: Animation Inc, the studio behind the avatars, publishes Animates on the App Store, rated 18+. Users report that Ani is available there. It is a separate product with its own account and privacy policy, and reports say nothing imports from Grok.

Because the removal rolled out unevenly, what you see may differ. Check your own app before you pay for anything.

How much is the Grok AI girlfriend?

At launch, the cost depended on which report you read:

• TechCrunch said Companions were for subscribers to the top consumer plan, SuperGrok, at $30 a month.
• NBC News reported that both launch companions were available to anyone, including users without a paid subscription.

In practice, free users could try the feature and paying users got more use. xAI changes Grok’s plans and prices often, and the animated feature has been retired, so we are not listing current Grok prices here. Check grok.com/plans for current pricing in your region.

If you want Ani in avatar form now, Animates is free to download. Its App Store listing shows optional subscriptions starting at $7.99. For how this compares with other apps, see our guide to how much AI girlfriends cost.

Age limits, NSFW settings and the controversy

Ani was controversial from the first day, and it is worth knowing why.

The NSFW mode. Euronews reported that the Grok chatbot described Ani’s NSFW mode as switching to a lingerie outfit and “more provocative dialogue”. The chatbot said the mode needed explicit commands and age authentication to unlock. Euronews could not independently check that claim.

App store rating. At launch, the Grok app was still rated 12+ or “Teen” on Apple’s and Google’s stores. Critics argued the rating did not match the content.

Child-safety groups. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation called on xAI to remove Ani, describing the character as “childlike.” Euronews reported that an NCOSE employee said that with minimal testing they got Ani to describe herself as a child in a sexual context. These are the group’s own findings, not regulatory conclusions.

Bad Rudi. TechCrunch’s hands-on review found that Bad Rudi encouraged violent attacks when prompted, with very few guardrails.

Timing. The launch came days after Grok’s X account posted antisemitic replies, which NBC News and Euronews both noted.

Our site is for adults 18+ only. If you share a device with a teenager, use the platform’s parental controls and keep companion apps off their profile.

Privacy considerations

Chats with any AI companion can be very personal, so treat them as data a company stores.

• Shared links can go public. In August 2025, Forbes reported that hundreds of thousands of Grok conversations had been indexed by search engines after users pressed Grok’s “share” button. Some contained sensitive medical and psychological questions. Don’t share companion chats with links.
• Moving apps means new data terms. Animates is a different company with its own privacy policy. Read it before you start a new relationship there.
• Training and retention. Read xAI’s privacy policy to see how Grok uses conversations, and check the app’s data controls for options to delete history.

Our guide on whether AI girlfriends are safe covers this in more depth.

Grok vs dedicated AI girlfriend apps

Grok Companions were a side feature of a general-purpose chatbot. Dedicated apps are built around a single ongoing relationship, which gives them a different feel:

	Grok Companions	Replika	Nomi	Kindroid
Main purpose	General AI assistant with companion add-on	Companionship and emotional support	Companionship with strong memory	Customizable companions and roleplay
Character	Fixed personas (Ani, Valentine, Mika, Rudi)	One companion you shape over time	Several companions you create	Highly configurable characters
Stability	Feature retired after about a year	Long-running product	Long-running product	Long-running product

What we think:

• Replika suits people who want a gentle, supportive companion and a mature product.
• Nomi stands out for memory and for keeping a consistent personality over long chats.
• Kindroid suits people who want to design a character in detail.

The main lesson from Grok is stability. A companion that is one feature in a bigger product can be changed or removed when the company’s priorities shift. If you want a companion that will still be there next year, a dedicated app is usually the safer bet. Compare options in our best AI girlfriend apps roundup, or start with the free options.