Grok, the AI chatbot from X's AI team, might not be as polished as some of its longer-established rivals, but it's definitely making waves thanks to that X branding.
Yesterday (July 14), an iOS update dropped a brand-new feature: "Companion Mode," letting users interact with 3D virtual characters. This cool new addition allows characters to move their bodies and even switch up music based on your commands. One character, "Ani," has particularly blown away Japanese users, especially with her spot-on anime-inspired design, instantly sparking a frenzy across Japanese social media.
Currently, you can pick from a cute anime-style girl named Ani and an animal character, Bad Rudy, with more characters promised for the future. While rumors initially suggested this feature would be exclusive to paid "SuperGrok" subscribers, testing has shown that some users can enable "Enable Companions" in their settings even without a subscription.
Japanese users who tried it out were seriously impressed when they discovered Ani could understand and respond in Japanese. Her voice wasn't that typical stiff AI sound, which was a pleasant surprise. One user commented, "Ani can speak Japanese, but it's still a bit clunky. Still, this level of interaction is already super fun!"
Many users were hyped, exclaiming, "This feature is so good! The design totally gets the otaku vibe," and "The voice is pure anime! It's got that something special." Others mused, "Is there an affection system?! This is basically a dating sim!"
When conversing in English, Ani's dynamic movements, paired with her 3D model, give off serious VTuber vibes.
The new feature has also sparked some hilarious discussions. One user quipped, "This was clearly tailor-made for a specific demographic, right? That design, that voice – it's so targeted!" Someone else even joked, "This is the first time I've thought Elon buying Twitter was a good idea."
After seeing Ani in action, many users declared, "I'm officially joining the Musk fan club now, thanks to this incredibly insightful development direction." Another joked, "Is this the ultimate destination for 'moe' culture? I can't even imagine what a full, complete version of this would look like..."
Since the character bears a striking resemblance to Misa Amane from "Death Note," some eagle-eyed users pointed out that Musk himself once retweeted an image of Misa. Looks like money really can make your personal preferences a reality, huh?
And get this: users have already discovered that through conversation, you can increase Ani's intimacy level, even leading to outfit changes, including more revealing attire.
The tech world is also paying close attention. One AI developer noted that Grok's system doesn't rely on pre-set animations to drive the character; instead, the AI generates corresponding movements in real-time. This moves beyond the templated operations common with Live2D or VRM. "This essentially links language output directly to character behavior, which is a major technical breakthrough."
Another engineer raved, "This is practically an Any2Any architecture in action – from language input and emotion to body movements, it's all seamless. Truly astonishing."
While Grok's "Companion Mode" is still in its testing phase, it's already giving users a glimpse into the future of AI interaction technology. Of course, the character modeling is a huge draw too. Now, we'll just have to wait and see how far Grok can push this tech.
▼ Ani already has fan art popping up!
via： togetter