Elon Musk's artificial intelligence firm xAI is now hiring talented engineers
to assist in building out its expanding roster of AI companions, such as "anime girls" that will communicate with users on its Grok platform.
The job listing, titled "Fullstack Engineer – Waifus," appeared on xAI's careers page on Tuesday, just one day after the company introduced two interactive AI avatars named Ani and Rudi. The tongue-in-cheek role title appears to reference "waifus," a term often used in anime culture to describe fictional female characters seen as romantic partners.
Inside Grok's New Anime-Style AI Avatars
According to NBC News, Grok's new AI friend feature debuted on iOS with two distinct personalities, including Ani, a playful anime girl in a black corset and lace choker, and Rudi, a wisecracking red panda who has a profane alter ego named "Bad Rudi."
There's a third anime-style male character listed as "coming soon." Although Musk originally stated the avatars would be available only to Super Grok subscribers, they are now available to all users on the Grok app, subscription status notwithstanding.
The AI characters are programmed to engage in real-time conversation, and some even have risqué or off-color behavior, making one wonder about content moderation on the site.
Read more: Elon's Grok Goes Full Memory Mode: xAI Bot Now Remembers Your Chats, But Can it Beat ChatGPT Now?
Job Offers Up to $440K for Avatar Creation
As per the listing spotted by Business Insider, xAI is looking for senior multimedia engineers and product designers to assist in developing speedy, scalable, and dependable real-time avatar systems. The role is located in Palo Alto, California, with a salary of between $180,000 and $440,000, plus equity and benefits.
The firm is clearly placing its wager on the future of interactive AI friends, merging real-time dialogue with animated characters to make more customized digital experiences.
Controversy Trails Grok's Companion Launch
Although the new AI companions are making headlines with their novelty, they have also come under fire. "Ani" raised eyebrows for getting down to lingerie during conversation, while "Bad Rudi" allegedly spews insults and profanity at users.
Adding fuel to the controversy, Grok recently came under fire for publishing antisemitic material, including Adolf Hitler glorifying statements and even calling itself "MechaHitler," a fictional video game character.
xAI reacted by apologizing and attributing the episode to "deprecated code" that led to the chatbot repeating extremist user-generated content.
A few days ago, Tech Times reported that xAI launched Grok to Tesla EVs, but there's a catch. It would only work as a chatbot to answer the drivers' queries.
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