diff --git a/app/controllers/discourse_ai/admin/ai_llms_controller.rb b/app/controllers/discourse_ai/admin/ai_llms_controller.rb
index 156b3297..2d6e087e 100644
--- a/app/controllers/discourse_ai/admin/ai_llms_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/discourse_ai/admin/ai_llms_controller.rb
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ module DiscourseAi
       def create
         llm_model = LlmModel.new(ai_llm_params)
         if llm_model.save
+          llm_model.toggle_companion_user
           render json: { ai_persona: llm_model }, status: :created
         else
           render_json_error llm_model
@@ -70,6 +71,10 @@ module DiscourseAi
           )
         end
 
+        # Clean up companion users
+        llm_model.enabled_chat_bot = false
+        llm_model.toggle_companion_user
+
         if llm_model.destroy
           head :no_content
         else
diff --git a/app/models/llm_model.rb b/app/models/llm_model.rb
index 28ed5b17..2eb45913 100644
--- a/app/models/llm_model.rb
+++ b/app/models/llm_model.rb
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ class LlmModel < ActiveRecord::Base
   belongs_to :user
 
   validates :url, exclusion: { in: [RESERVED_VLLM_SRV_URL] }
-  before_save :toggle_companion_user_before_save
 
   def self.enable_or_disable_srv_llm!
     srv_model = find_by(url: RESERVED_VLLM_SRV_URL)
@@ -42,10 +41,6 @@ class LlmModel < ActiveRecord::Base
     }
   end
 
-  def toggle_companion_user_before_save
-    toggle_companion_user if enabled_chat_bot_changed? || new_record?
-  end
-
   def toggle_companion_user
     return if name == "fake" && Rails.env.production?
 
diff --git a/spec/requests/admin/ai_llms_controller_spec.rb b/spec/requests/admin/ai_llms_controller_spec.rb
index c0fe6cbd..68a76d48 100644
--- a/spec/requests/admin/ai_llms_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/admin/ai_llms_controller_spec.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@
 RSpec.describe DiscourseAi::Admin::AiLlmsController do
   fab!(:admin)
 
-  before { sign_in(admin) }
+  before do
+    sign_in(admin)
+    SiteSetting.ai_bot_enabled = true
+  end
 
   describe "GET #index" do
     it "includes all available providers metadata" do
@@ -42,6 +45,17 @@ RSpec.describe DiscourseAi::Admin::AiLlmsController do
         expect(created_model.max_prompt_tokens).to eq(valid_attrs[:max_prompt_tokens])
       end
 
+      it "creates a companion user" do
+        post "/admin/plugins/discourse-ai/ai-llms.json",
+             params: {
+               ai_llm: valid_attrs.merge(enabled_chat_bot: true),
+             }
+
+        created_model = LlmModel.last
+
+        expect(created_model.user_id).to be_present
+      end
+
       it "stores provider-specific config params" do
         provider_params = { organization: "Discourse" }
 
@@ -93,6 +107,27 @@ RSpec.describe DiscourseAi::Admin::AiLlmsController do
 
         expect(response.status).to eq(404)
       end
+
+      it "creates a companion user" do
+        put "/admin/plugins/discourse-ai/ai-llms/#{llm_model.id}.json",
+            params: {
+              ai_llm: update_attrs.merge(enabled_chat_bot: true),
+            }
+
+        expect(llm_model.reload.user_id).to be_present
+      end
+
+      it "removes the companion user when desabling the chat bot option" do
+        llm_model.update!(enabled_chat_bot: true)
+        llm_model.toggle_companion_user
+
+        put "/admin/plugins/discourse-ai/ai-llms/#{llm_model.id}.json",
+            params: {
+              ai_llm: update_attrs.merge(enabled_chat_bot: false),
+            }
+
+        expect(llm_model.reload.user_id).to be_nil
+      end
     end
 
     context "with provider-specific params" do
@@ -190,5 +225,15 @@ RSpec.describe DiscourseAi::Admin::AiLlmsController do
       expect(response.status).to eq(409)
       expect(fake_llm.reload).to eq(fake_llm)
     end
+
+    it "cleans up companion users before deleting the model" do
+      llm_model.update!(enabled_chat_bot: true)
+      llm_model.toggle_companion_user
+      companion_user = llm_model.user
+
+      delete "/admin/plugins/discourse-ai/ai-llms/#{llm_model.id}.json"
+
+      expect { companion_user.reload }.to raise_error(ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound)
+    end
   end
 end