Latest news with #companion
The Independent
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Elon Musk unveils new AI ‘companion' inspired by 50 Shades of Grey and Twilight
Elon Musk has unveiled a new AI-powered chatbot 'companion,' which he says is inspired by Edward Cullen from the Twilight saga and Christian Grey from erotic romance novel 50 Shades of Grey. The tech billionaire's artificial intelligence offshoot xAI debuted the companions on Monday. The features allow users to interact with animated characters that can be personally customized and are powered by Grok – the platform's AI chatbot. Posting a picture of the animated male character on X Wednesday, Musk first asked his followers what to name him, before adding: 'His personality is inspired by Edward Cullen from Twilight and Christian Grey from 50 Shades.' He later said that the character's name would be Valentine, 'after the protagonist in Stranger in a Strange Land, the Heinlein book where our AI name 'Grok' was created.' 'To Grok something means to understand deeply and empathetically,' he wrote. Grok previously dubbed itself 'MechaHitler' and spewed antisemitic talking points. The arrival of Valentine comes after Musk previously introduced two other AI companions, both of which have prompted controversy. A female anime character, called Ani, becomes sexually explicit with her replies and offers to make users' lives 'sexier.' An investigation done by NBC found that the animation will strip down to its underwear if the user flirts with it enough. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, an anti-pornography and anti-sexual exploitation nonprofit, called for xAI to remove the Ani chatbot in a statement on Tuesday, claiming the character's "childlike" appearance and behavior promoted high-risk sexual behavior. Despite this, xAi is currently hiring a Fullstack Engineer to generate 'waifus' – a term to describe anime girls. 'We're looking for exceptional multimedia engineers and product thinkers who want to make Grok's realtime avatar products the best in the world,' the job description reads. xAi's other character, a red panda named Bad Rudy responds in vulgar and violent ways. The animation insults users with graphic language and encourages them to sew chaos. NBC News reported, through interaction analysis, that the panda suggested things including the overthrow of the Pope as well as floating an idea to steal a yacht in California.
SBS Australia
17-07-2025
- General
- SBS Australia
Le journal des sports du 17/07/2025 : Tour de France - une 11e étape pleine de surprises
Independent news and stories connecting you to life in Australia and French-speaking Australians. Your learning companion with snippets from SBS French at a manageable pace. French News First Edition Watch now
SBS Australia
17-07-2025
- General
- SBS Australia
Le journal des sports du 15/07/2025 : Tour de France - une 11e étape pleine de surprises
Independent news and stories connecting you to life in Australia and French-speaking Australians. Your learning companion with snippets from SBS French at a manageable pace. French News First Edition Watch now
Gizmodo
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Elon Unveils New Grok AI ‘Companion' That Looks Uncomfortably Familiar
On Wednesday, Elon Musk discussed a new male AI 'companion' that his company xAI is developing, which will run on the company's unhinged chatbot software Grok. And while it's not yet clear when this new robot buddy will be released, it sounds an awful lot like Musk is trying to make a romanticized version of himself. Musk first tweeted an image of the anime-inspired bot on Tuesday, asking followers on X what it should be named. The billionaire has already released two AI companions that use Grok, an anime-style woman and a red panda, both of whom have been met with a mix of excitement and disgust for various reasons. The billionaire xAI founder wrote Wednesday that his unnamed bot would have a personality 'inspired by Edward Cullen from Twilight and Christian Grey from 50 Shades.' It's unclear whether Musk knows that 50 Shades of Grey started as Twilight fan fiction and Christian Grey is essentially the same character as Edward. It's also unclear whether the copyright holders for the Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey books and movies will mind that a billionaire oligarch is building an AI sex robot based on their characters. But what is clear is that Musk probably sees himself as that new AI character in some capacity. How can we say that? Well, there's a rather infamous photo of Musk from 2012 where he was dressed in a style that looks pretty identical to his new AI bot. 'Wore Marquis de Sade outfit for a party last night. Was v popular with women who'd read 50 Shades :)' Musk wrote in a tweet from June 18, 2012. The photo doesn't appear to be loading in Musk's original tweet on X, but it's been archived across the web, as you can see above. Musk's two AI chatbot creations, a woman named Ani and a red panda named Bad Rudi, both seem to serve very different roles. And they're both centered around characters that Musk himself would probably want around. Ani is intended to be Musk's version of a perfect girlfriend, constantly flirting and praising the user. While Bad Rudy is the perfect bro friend, constantly insulting you in the way an immature 13-year-old boy does to test out his comedy chops. What was missing? Something for the ladies, of course. The perfect man. Elon. Or the version of Elon he wishes he could be. Brooding, in control, highly sexual, and such a manly man. The guy with the long, black hair. A man with no signs of balding. A man with no need for hair plugs. When a female X user replied to Musk that he should release a version based on Mr. Darcy, a character from Jane Austen's 1813 book Pride and Prejudice, Musk replied in the affirmative: 'We will, of course, have another character inspired by Mr. Darcy.' That would obviously be a safer bet, given the fact that Austen's book is now in the public domain and can be used without paying royalties for IP. There's no telling how sexual this new ersatz Elon will be, but given Ani's attitude, we imagine this new AI bot will primarily seek to titillate. And while Musk may not be physically capable of inseminating every woman on the planet, as the father of 14 or more kids would like to do, he'll know his AI avatar is out there to do it digitally.
CNET
12-07-2025
- CNET
4 Reasons Why You Should Always Leave Your Phone Face Down
You're catching up with a friend you haven't seen in ages. It feels good to be spending time with them in person, clinking glasses and laughing at old jokes. Then there's a lull in the conversation, and your friend picks up their smartphone. At some point, we've all been phone-snubbed. That's what happens when the person you're hanging out with seems more interested in their phone than you. You might be sitting right across from someone, but when they're laughing at a video or meme only they can see, it feels like they're a million miles away. I've been guilty of paying more attention to my screen than my companion and felt bad about it afterward. There's nothing wrong with replying to an urgent Slack message or pulling up a funny TikTok to share. But I know I probably spend too much time staring at screens, and a lot of that time is unhealthy doomscrolling. These days, when I'm not using my phone, I try to be more deliberate about keeping it out of sight and out of mind. If I do need to keep my phone at hand, I always have it face down. It can protect your phone screen I have a few reasons for making sure my phone screen is turned away. The first one is practical: When my phone isn't in my pocket, it's probably sitting on a desk or table -- which means it's probably not far from a glass of water or mug of coffee. As a somewhat clumsy person, I've spilled beverages on my phone plenty of times. And even though most modern phones are water-resistant, why take chances? With my screen hidden, I can keep the most important part of my phone protected from splashes and other mishaps. For extra protection, I have a phone case with raised edges. This helps prevent the screen from coming in direct contact with crumbs and debris that might be left on the table. My colleague David Carnoy told me about an incident where he was charging his phone on his kitchen counter with the screen face up. Someone dropped a mug on top of it and cracked the screen. Unfortunately, he didn't have a screen protector on this device (he knows better now). It could help save your phone battery Another good reason to keep my phone face down is that it won't turn on each time I get a notification. That means I can save a little bit of battery charge. A single notification won't mean the difference between my phone lasting the whole day or dying in the afternoon but notifications can add up, especially if I've enabled them across all of my apps. If I'm in a lot of group chats, my screen might end up turning on dozens of times throughout the day (and that's on the low side -- many teenagers have hundreds of notifications a day). It also shows that you pay attention Keeping my phone face down is also a good rule of social etiquette: If I'm hanging out with someone, I keep my screen hidden from view as a subtle way of showing that I won't be distracted by it. I don't want incoming notifications to light up my screen every few seconds, especially if I'm in a bar or other dimly lit setting. I want to keep my eyes on the person I'm talking to. "Eye contact is one of the most powerful forms of human connection. Neuroscience research indicates that when two people make direct eye contact, their brain activity begins to synchronize, supporting more effective communication and increasing empathy. This synchrony can be disrupted when attention shifts to a phone, even briefly," says Michelle Davis, clinical psychologist at Headspace. When I'm with the people I've chosen to spend time with, I want to be fully present with them. A sudden notification will tempt me to glance at, or worse, pick up my phone in the middle of a conversation. It minimizes your phone's presence I also have a more personal reason for keeping my phone face down and I suspect that other people have had this same thought: My phone takes up too much space in my life. I mean that quite literally. My phone is bigger than it needs to be. That's been especially true since I upgraded from my iPhone Mini to a "normal-sized" iPhone. Yes, I got a much needed boost in battery life but I also got a screen with more pixels to lure me into the next news headline or autoplaying Instagram reel. A small smartphone isn't something that really exists anymore. My phone is bigger and better at grabbing my attention. It competes against my friends and family, books and movies, the entire world outside of its 6-inch screen. It often wins. But there's still one small thing I can do to minimize its presence: I can keep the screen turned away from me whenever possible. It can sometimes feel like there's no escaping from my phone. Whether that ever changes, or phones evolve into some new form factor, I can't say. I can't control everything about my phone but I can control whether the screen stares at me when I'm not staring at it.
