Nearly three-quarters of teens have used AI companions, and half use them regularly, new research finds. Moreover, one-third turn to chatbots for social interactions.

Ani, an anime avatar wearing a tight black dress, was launched the same day the tech billionaire was awarded a $200 million Department of Defense contract.

One of the new “companions,” or AI characters for users to interact with, is a sexualized blonde anime bot called “Ani."

The study by Common Sense Media also found that nearly a third of teens are as satisfied, if not more, by conversing with AI rather than humans.

The latest version of Grok for iOS (version 1.1.18) comes with two companions — an anime girl called Ani and a red panda called Rudi.

At a time when other companies — like Musk’s former endeavor, OpenAI — are grappling with accusations that their products are causing users to fall into a state of AI-induced psychosis, Grok appears to be leaning into the technology's ability to quickly build rapport with human users.

And that can be a cause for concern if the kids are replacing human connection with machines, according to Common Sense Media. The organization, which advocates for online protections for children and teens, found that 72% of teens have used AI companions at least once. Over half use AI companions regularly.

Teens admit that they prefer discussing important topics with AI companions more than people, according to a new study.

A new study shows that over half of teens are regular users of AI companions — and some prefer them to their human friends.

Usually, when you try to mess with an AI chatbot, you have to be pretty clever to get past its guardrails. But Bad Rudy basically has no guardrails, which is its whole point. Getting Bad Rudy to suggest that you burn a school is as easy as getting Ani to fall in love with you.