Pentagon to start using Grok as part of a $200 million contract with Elon Musk's xAI

CBS News

2 days ago

The Pentagon has signed on to use Grok, the AI chatbot built by Elon Musk 's company xAI, as part of a new $200 million agreement that opens the door for its deployment across the federal government, the company announced Monday.
The announcement comes amid Musk's public breakup with President Trump and days after Grok generated antisemitic responses and praised Adolf Hitler.
The rollout is part of "Grok for Government," a newly launched suite of tools designed for use by federal agencies, local governments, and national security operations. xAI said its products, including its latest Grok 4 model, will now be available for purchase through the General Services Administration (GSA), allowing any federal office to adopt the technology.
The move aligns with the Trump administration's push for more aggressive adoption of artificial intelligence across the government. Since taking office in January, Mr. Trump has championed AI as a pillar of national security and innovation.
Musk himself briefly served in the Trump administration earlier this year, overseeing the White House's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, before stepping down in May amid a public break with Mr. Trump over his sweeping tax and spending bill. Musk has since emerged as a sharp critic of that legislation, even floating the idea of launching a third political party.
Despite the rift, xAI has continued to expand its government work. The new offering includes custom national security tools, AI-powered science and health applications, and cleared engineering support for classified environments.
The announcement comes just days after Grok generated antisemitic responses to user prompts and referenced Hitler as part of what the company called an effort to make the model "less politically correct." Hours later, Musk wrote in a post on X that "Grok was too compliant to user prompts. Too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed."
The posts were later deleted and xAI said it "quickly" patched the issue. One day later, xAI launched an upgraded version of Grok it described as a major leap forward. Musk also announced that Grok would be used in Teslas.
But the latest version was not without kinks, too: Grok checked with Musk's views before answering a question, according to The Associated Press.
Grok was introduced in late 2023 as a more unfiltered alternative to other chatbots like ChatGPT, and is already integrated into Musk's social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
"America is the world leader in AI," xAI said in Monday's post announcing the Pentagon deal. "We're excited to contribute back to the country that made xAI uniquely possible here."