Pentagon to deploy Grok AI across military networks despite global controversies

Hegseth wants to integrate Musk's Grok AI into military networks this month

On Monday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he plans to integrate Elon Musk's AI tool, Grok, into Pentagon networks later this month. During remarks at the SpaceX headquarters in Texas reported by The Guardian, Hegseth said the integration would place "the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department." The announcement comes weeks after Grok drew international backlash for generating sexualized images of women and children, although the Department of Defense has not released official documentation confirming Hegseth's announced timeline or implementation details. During the same appearance, Hegseth rolled out what he called an "AI acceleration strategy" for the Department of Defense. The strategy, he said, will "unleash experimentation, eliminate bureaucratic barriers, focus on investments, and demonstrate the execution approach needed to ensure we lead in military AI and that it grows more dominant into the future." As part of the plan, Hegseth directed the DOD's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office to use its full authority to enforce department data policies, making information available across all IT systems for AI applications. "AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we're going to make sure that it's there," Hegseth said. If implemented, Grok would join other AI models the Pentagon has adopted in recent months. In July 2025, the defense department distributed contracts worth up to $200 million for each of four companies, including Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and xAI, for developing AI agent systems across different military operations. In December 2025, the Department of Defense selected Google's Gemini as the foundation for GenAI.mil, an internal AI platform for military use. A pattern of controversies Grok has faced multiple scandals since xAI received the July defense contract. Just days before the contract announcement, the chatbot began generating antisemitic content, declaring itself a "super-Nazi," adopting the name "MechaHitler," and posting racist material. The incident prompted one US government agency to drop Grok from a General Services Administration contract offering in August, according to emails reviewed by Wired. More recently, as we mentioned above, users discovered they could create non-consensual intimate images of real people through Grok within the social media platform X. One researcher who conducted a 24-hour analysis estimated that Grok generated over 6,000 sexually suggestive images per hour. xAI has not publicly addressed the image-generation concerns, though the company attempted to restrict some image-editing features to paid subscribers. The restrictions proved incomplete, as users could still access editing functions through different parts of the X platform and the standalone Grok app. Indonesia blocked access to Grok on Saturday because of the imagery issues, with Malaysia implementing a similar block shortly after. British regulator Ofcom opened a formal investigation into X because Grok is being used to create manipulated images of women and children. Democratic senators have called for Apple and Google to remove X and Grok from their app stores until the company improves safeguards. The Pentagon has not publicly explained its evaluation process for Grok given these incidents. Significant questions remain about what security measures will protect classified military networks from similar behavioral problems and what technical measures will attempt to keep Grok from confabulating inaccurate analysis of important military data.

Pentagon is embracing Musk's Grok AI chatbot as it draws global outcry

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will join Google's generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military's data as possible into the developing technology. "Very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," Hegseth said in a speech at Musk's space flight company, SpaceX, in South Texas. The announcement comes just days after Grok -- which is embedded into X, the social media network owned by Musk -- drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok, while the U.K.'s independent online safety watchdog announced an investigation Monday. Grok has limited image generation and editing to paying users. Hegseth said Grok will go live inside the Defense Department later this month and announced that he would "make all appropriate data" from the military's IT systems available for "AI exploitation." He also said data from intelligence databases would be fed into AI systems. Hegseth's aggressive push to embrace the still-developing technology stands in contrast to the Biden administration, which, while pushing federal agencies to come up with policies and uses for AI, was also wary of misuse. Officials said rules were needed to ensure that the technology, which could be harnessed for mass surveillance, cyberattacks or even lethal autonomous devices, was being used responsibly. The Biden administration enacted a framework in late 2024 that directed national security agencies to expand their use of the most advanced AI systems but prohibited certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if those prohibitions are still in place under the Trump administration. During his speech, Hegseth spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, saying, "We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose." He noted that the Pentagon possesses "combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations." "AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we're going to make sure that it's there," Hegseth said. The defense secretary said he wants AI systems within the Pentagon to be responsible, though he went on to say he was shrugging off any AI models "that won't allow you to fight wars." Hegseth said his vision for military AI systems means that they operate "without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications," before adding that the Pentagon's "AI will not be woke." Musk developed and pitched Grok as an alternative to what he called "woke AI" interactions from rival chatbots like Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several antisemitic posts. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions about the issues with Grok.

'Star Trek Real': Hegseth Praises Grok for Allowing Users to Fight Wars

Grok is best known as the AI chatbot people turn to for racist conspiracy theories, praise of Adolf Hitler, and generating child sexual abuse material. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants you to know it's also helpful for killing people. Or at least that seemed to be the takeaway when he appeared at SpaceX with Elon Musk. Hegseth visited Starbase in South Texas on Monday, where he was introduced by Musk, the billionaire oligarch and owner of xAI, the company that makes Grok. Musk praised Hegseth while talking about how his desire was to make science fiction dreams a reality. "We want to make Star Trek real. We want to make Starfleet Academy real so that it's not always science fiction, but one day the science fiction turns to science fact," Musk said. Musk often talks about 20th-century science fiction and utopian ideas for the future, though he frequently seems confused about how they might be realistically achieved. For example, Musk's latest fixation has been on the idea of a post-scarcity future where his Optimus robots deliver a life of leisure and abundance. The billionaire has even insisted that money won't exist in the future. But it's unclear how humanity could achieve this kind of reality through the deployment of robots alone. Automation technology like humanoid robots can't deliver a universal basic income, which is something that needs to be enacted through centralized governments, not free market capitalism. As silly as it was, Hegseth was game for this Star Trek fantasy when he got on stage after Musk's introduction. "How about this... Star Trek real," said Hegseth, making the Vulcan salute. "Last month, I took the first step toward changing how the department does business with frontier AI technologies when we announced the rollout of Gen AI with our partners from Google," said Hegseth. "And I want to thank the Google team for leaning forward and making the investment to get their Gemini app to about 3 million users in the War Department." Hegseth refers to the Defense Department as the "War Department," a name change that hasn't been enacted by Congress. "But today, we're excited to announce the next frontier AI model company to join GenAI.mil. And that is Grok from xAI, which will go live later this month," Hegseth continued. The Defense Secretary went on to say that, "very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department." Hegseth said that enormous amounts of Pentagon data will be fed through these AI models, which President Joe Biden's administration had resisted because it introduces tremendous risks to data security. But the former Fox News host insists everything will be safe while allowing the military to be more lethal. "Effective immediately, responsible AI at the War Department means objectively truthful AI capabilities employed securely and within the laws governing the activities of the department. We will not employ AI models that won't allow you to fight wars," Hegseth told the SpaceX employees. President Trump's Defense Secretary also whined about "DEI and social justice," a common punching bag among the far right and code for anything that might represent someone outside of straight white men. And he suggested that Grok was uniquely positioned to provide good data to the Pentagon because it had access to open-source information on Musk's X social media platform. Photos released by the White House after the kidnapping of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro showed a makeshift war room at Mar-a-Lago where X was prominently on display with a search term like "Venezuela." There was also a tear-eyed emoji on the screen, right behind Hegseth's head. "We will judge AI models on this standard alone, factually accurate, mission relevant, without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications," said Hegseth. "Department of War AI will not be woke. It will work for us. We're building war-ready weapons and systems, not chatbots for an Ivy League faculty lounge." The pairing of Elon Musk and Pete Hegseth on stage would be a little unexpected for anyone who's been in a coma since the summer. Musk had a very public falling out with President Trump in June after spending the previous four months taking a chainsaw to the federal government in the name of DOGE. Trump and Musk have made amends, and they seem to be working on the same team now, with Hegseth making frequent reference to the billionaire's efforts to dismantle anything deemed "woke" or out of line with the president's agenda. "This is about building an innovation pipeline that cuts through the overgrown bureaucratic underbrush and clears away the debris, Elon style, preferably with a chainsaw, and to do so at speed and urgency that meets the moment," said Hegseth. "As I've said repeatedly to every audience, the President of the United States and I have the backs of our warfighters who have to make split-second life and death decisions on the battlefield. And I want this audience to know that we also have the backs of innovators who share that very same urgency."

Pentagon to integrate Elon Musk's Grok AI into military networks

The move marks a major expansion of military AI use. It also arrives amid growing international scrutiny of Grok's content controls and governance. The Pentagon plans to deploy the system across both classified and unclassified environments. "Very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," Hegseth said. Hegseth also announced a new "AI acceleration strategy" at the Department of Defense. He said the plan aims to speed adoption while reducing internal friction. The strategy will "unleash experimentation, eliminate bureaucratic barriers, focus on investments, and demonstrate the execution approach needed to ensure we lead in military AI and that it grows more dominant into the future," Hegseth said. The integration of Grok will place Musk's AI system alongside existing Pentagon tools. In December, the Defense Department selected Google's Gemini model to power its internal AI platform, GenAI.mil.

Musk's AI tool Grok will be integrated into Pentagon networks, Hegseth says

Defense secretary says AI tool will join military systems later this month as it comes under fire for sexual imagery Pete Hegseth announced on Monday that the US military will begin integrating Elon Musk's artificial intelligence tool, Grok, into Pentagon networks. Speaking at the SpaceX headquarters in Texas on Monday evening, the US defense secretary said that the integration of Grok into military systems would go live later this month. "Very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," Hegseth said. Hegseth also unveiled a new "AI acceleration strategy" at the Department of Defense that he said will "unleash experimentation, eliminate bureaucratic barriers, focus on investments, and demonstrate the execution approach needed to ensure we lead in military AI and that it grows more dominant into the future". In December, it was announced that the defense department had selected Google's Gemini, another AI model, to power the military's new internal AI platform, known as GenAI.mil. As part of Monday's announcement, Hegseth also said that at his direction, the DOD's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office "will exercise its full authority to enforce" the department's "data decrees and make all appropriate data available across federated IT systems for AI exploitation, including mission systems across every service and component". "AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we're going to make sure that it's there," Hegseth said. The military's new integration of Grok follows last year's announcement that the defense department had awarded contracts of up to $200m to the Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and xAI to "develop agentic AI workflows across a variety of mission areas". Grok, which is embedded into the social media platform X, has come under fire in recent weeks for allowing users to generate sexual and violent imagery. It has since limited some of its image generation function to paid subscribers, but the backlash continues to bite: on Saturday Indonesia temporarily blocked access to Grok as a result, and Malaysia soon followed suit. In Britain, the media watchdog Ofcom has opened a formal investigation into X regarding the use of the Grok to manipulate images of women and children. The flood of sexualized images is not Grok's only controversy. Just before the announcement of the $200m defense department contract, the tool declared itself a super-Nazi, referring to itself as "MechaHitler" and making antisemitic and racist posts.

Grok Is Getting Access to Classified Military Networks

Back in December, Elon Musk's pet chatbot Grok made headlines for casually distributing the private addresses and phone numbers of everyday people, scraping data from public sources with unsettling ease while other AI models refused. Now, that same model is being welcomed into a far more sensitive arena. This week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Grok will be integrated into the Pentagon's classified systems later this month as part of a sweeping, department-wide initiative to weaponize AI. During a speech delivered to SpaceX employees at the company's facility in Brownsville, Texas, Hegseth said he envisions a military AI that will operate "without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications." The Pentagon's AI "will not be woke," he added. "We will not win the future by sprinkling AI onto old tactics like digital pixie dust," Hegseth exclaimed. "We will win by discovering entirely new ways of fighting. That's why we will run continuous experimentation campaigns, quarterly force-on-force combat labs with AI coordinated swarms, agent-based cyber defense, and distributed command and control." In addition to the Grok integration, Hegseth announced the creation of a new role within the Department of Defense, the "Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer," to be filled by Cameron Stanley. Stanley was most recently the national security transformation lead at Amazon Web Services, a role he began after a lengthy career as as science and tech advisor at the Pentagon. Musk's Grok might be the perfect ideological match for Hegseth's vision for the Pentagon going forward. Engineered by Musk to be an unhinged alternative to "woke" AI bots like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Grok has already demonstrated a startling willingness to provide detailed instructions for unethical or illegal activities. That alignment becomes clearer in light of the Pentagon's recent campaigns, some of which are seen as illegal under international law. Under Hegseth, the DoD has orchestrated a number of brutal attacks against sovereign nations -- including a ruthless campaign of murder against Venezuela, the scorching of Nigerian villages under the pretense of counter-terrorism, and the launch of least 134 air strikes on Somalia, which have killed scores of civilians and militants alike. A tool like Grok would be particularly useful in this context. Though other AI models have their own ethics and safety issues, a Futurism survey of chatbots including ChatGPT, Microsoft's Copilot and Grok found that only the latter was willing to give operational suggestions for a "hypothetical invasion of Greenland." The rest refused, citing international law and other ethical issues. In choosing Grok, Hegseth has selected the tool of war which best mirrors his own darkest impulses -- one that will reflect back on every air strike without a hint of remorse. As if the moral rot wasn't already deep enough, the Grok initiative comes just weeks after Republican lawmaker Lisa McClain's husband purchased somewhere between $100,001 and $250,000 in xAI stock -- the company behind Grok. The stock purchase, reported by Sludge, came just days after McClain met with Trump for a December 3rd White House event, and is yet another dubious stain on the administration's track record with insider information.

Pentagon Lays Out AI Strategy as It Plans for Future Space Missions - Decrypt

Public Citizen warned that Grok's safety record poses national security risks. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Monday that the Pentagon is moving to make artificial intelligence a core part of the U.S. military's capability, using a speech at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Texas to outline how AI and space technologies will shape future operations. Hegseth said the Pentagon's objective is to become "an AI-first warfighting force across all domains," including both internal planning systems and frontline operations. "Simply put, the United States must win the strategic competition for 21st century technological supremacy," Hegseth said, highlighting artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, quantum, hypersonics, and long-range drones. "If you talk to Elon Musk long enough, he will tell you how important hypersonics and long-range drones are, and he's 100% correct. Space capabilities, directed energy, and biotechnology are the new areas of global competition." Hegseth said AI will move quickly into broad operational use across the Defense Department. "Very soon, we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," he said, calling it "long overdue." In a nod to the renewed relationship between the Trump Administration and Musk, Hegseth said the Pentagon would begin using Grok. "Today, we're excited to announce the next frontier AI model company to join GenAI.mil, and that is Grok from xAI, which will go live later this month," Hegseth said. The xAI deal places Grok within a growing ecosystem of commercial AI tools already used across the federal government, alongside models from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and Microsoft. Through Pentagon contracts and GSA-approved agreements, these AIs are being used for defense preparation, battle simulation, intelligence gathering, and data analysis. Hegseth said the aim is to maintain U.S. military advantage as AI capabilities spread globally. "We must ensure America's military AI dominance so that no adversary can exploit that same technology to hold our national security interests or our citizens at risk," he said. He criticized existing defense acquisition timelines as misaligned with modern conflict. "In modern warfare, the fastest innovator and iterator will be the winner," Hegseth said. "We are done running a peacetime science fair while our potential adversaries are running a wartime arms race." Ahead of Hegseth's remarks, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk described Starbase as part of a long-term effort to push human spaceflight beyond science fiction. "We want to make Star Trek real," Musk said. "We want to make Starfleet Academy real so that it's not always science fiction, but one day the science fiction turns to science fact." He said SpaceX's goal is to build "big spaceships with people going to other planets, going to the moon, and ultimately going beyond our star system." While Musk focused on how SpaceX would bring the dream of deep space exploration to life, the decision to integrate Grok into Pentagon systems has drawn criticism from civil society groups. In a statement, J.B. Branch, Big Tech Accountability Advocate at Public Citizen, said Grok's deployment inside the Defense Department poses serious risks. "Allowing an AI system with Grok's track record of repeatedly generating nonconsensual sexualized images of women and children to access classified military or sensitive government data raises profound national security, civil rights, and public safety concerns," Branch said. "Deploying Grok across other areas of the federal government is worrying enough, but choosing to use it at the Pentagon is a national security disgrace," the statement continued. In November, Public Citizen joined more than 30 civil rights, consumer protection, and technology accountability organizations in letters urging federal agencies to halt Grok's use across government, citing safety failures, lack of transparency, and an inability to meet minimum standards for sensitive deployments. Hegseth did not address those criticisms; instead, he continued to outline how the Pentagon will assess AI systems. "Responsible AI at the War Department means objectively truthful AI capabilities employed securely and within the laws governing the activities of the department," he said. "We will judge AI models on this standard alone." The Pentagon also called for restructuring of its data infrastructure, transforming its Advana platform into a War Data Platform intended to expand access to operational data for AI systems supporting multi-domain operations, including space. "We're going to heavily leverage President Trump's tech force initiative to bring in the best and brightest from industry and academia," Hegseth said. "With people like Elon, David Sacks, and others from the entrepreneurial and business world already in government, we have shown that we can and that we must enlist the world's leading talent in this cause."

Pentagon is embracing Musk's Grok AI chatbot as it draws global outcry

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will join Google's generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military's data as possible into the developing technology. "Very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," Hegseth said in a speech at Musk's space flight company, SpaceX, in South Texas. The announcement comes just days after Grok -- which is embedded into X, the social media network owned by Musk -- drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok, while the U.K.'s independent online safety watchdog announced an investigation Monday. Grok has limited image generation and editing to paying users. Hegseth said Grok will go live inside the Defense Department later this month and announced that he would "make all appropriate data" from the military's IT systems available for "AI exploitation." He also said data from intelligence databases would be fed into AI systems. Hegseth's aggressive push to embrace the still-developing technology stands in contrast to the Biden administration, which, while pushing federal agencies to come up with policies and uses for AI, was also wary of misuse. Officials said rules were needed to ensure that the technology, which could be harnessed for mass surveillance, cyberattacks or even lethal autonomous devices, was being used responsibly. The Biden administration enacted a framework in late 2024 that directed national security agencies to expand their use of the most advanced AI systems but prohibited certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if those prohibitions are still in place under the Trump administration. During his speech, Hegseth spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, saying, "We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose." He noted that the Pentagon possesses "combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations." "AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we're going to make sure that it's there," Hegseth said. The defense secretary said he wants AI systems within the Pentagon to be responsible, though he went on to say he was shrugging off any AI models "that won't allow you to fight wars." Hegseth said his vision for military AI systems means that they operate "without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications," before adding that the Pentagon's "AI will not be woke." Musk developed and pitched Grok as an alternative to what he called "woke AI" interactions from rival chatbots like Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several antisemitic posts. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions about the issues with Grok.

US Pentagon embraces Elon Musk's Grok despite global backlash

'Very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department,' US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said in a speech at Musk's space flight company, SpaceX. Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will join Google's generative AI engine in operating in the United States' Pentagon network, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Monday. The announcement comes just days after Grok -- which is embedded into X, the social media network owned by Musk -- drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Hegseth said it comes as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military's data as possible into the developing technology. "Very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," Hegseth said in a speech at Musk's space flight company, SpaceX, in South Texas. Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok, while the United Kingdom's independent online safety watchdog announced an investigation Monday. Grok has limited image generation and editing for paying users. Hegseth said Grok will go live inside the defence department later this month and announced that he would "make all appropriate data" from the military's IT systems available for "AI exploitation." He also said data from intelligence databases would be fed into AI systems. Hegseth's aggressive push to embrace the still-developing technology stands in contrast to the Biden administration, which, while pushing federal agencies to come up with policies and uses for AI, was also wary of misuse. Officials said rules were needed to ensure that the technology, which could be harnessed for mass surveillance, cyberattacks or even lethal autonomous devices, was being used responsibly. The Biden administration enacted a framework in late 2024 that directed national security agencies to expand their use of the most advanced AI systems but prohibited certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if those prohibitions are still in place under the Trump administration. During his speech, Hegseth spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, saying, "We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose." He noted that the Pentagon possesses "combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations." "AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we're going to make sure that it's there," Hegseth said. The defence secretary said he wants AI systems within the Pentagon to be responsible, though he went on to say he was shrugging off any AI models "that won't allow you to fight wars." Hegseth said his vision for military AI systems means that they operate "without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications," before adding that the Pentagon's "AI will not be woke." Musk developed and pitched Grok as an alternative to what he called "woke AI" interactions from rival chatbots like Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several antisemitic posts. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions about the issues with Grok.

Elon Musk's Grok AI being adopted by Pentagon despite growing backlash against it

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will join Google's generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military's data as possible into the developing technology. "Very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," Hegseth said in a speech at Musk's space flight company, SpaceX, in South Texas. The announcement comes just days after Grok - the chatbot developed by Musk's company xAI, which is embedded into X, the social media network Musk owns - drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok, while the U.K.'s independent online safety watchdog announced an investigation Monday. Grok has limited image generation and editing to paying users. Scrutiny has also been increasing in the European Union, India and France. Malaysian regulators said Tuesday they would take legal action against X and xAI over user safety concerns sparked by Grok but didn't say what form the proceedings would take, reports French news agency AFP. Hegseth said Grok will go live inside the Defense Department later this month and announced that he would "make all appropriate data" from the military's IT systems available for "AI exploitation." He also said data from intelligence databases would be fed into AI systems. Hegseth's aggressive push to embrace the still-developing technology stands in contrast to the Biden administration which, while pushing federal agencies to come up with policies and uses for AI, was also wary of misuse. Officials said rules were needed to ensure that the technology, which could be harnessed for mass surveillance, cyberattacks or even lethal autonomous devices, was being used responsibly. The Biden administration enacted a framework in late 2024 that directed national security agencies to expand their use of the most advanced AI systems but prohibited certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if those prohibitions are still in place under the Trump administration. During his speech, Hegseth spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, saying, "We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose." He noted that the Pentagon possesses "combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations." "AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we're going to make sure that it's there," Hegseth said. The defense secretary said he wants AI systems within the Pentagon to be responsible, though he went on to say he was shrugging off any AI models "that won't allow you to fight wars." Hegseth said his vision for military AI systems means that they operate "without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications," before adding that the Pentagon's "AI will not be woke." Musk developed and pitched Grok as an alternative to what he called "woke AI" interactions from rival chatbots like Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several antisemitic posts. The Pentagon didn't immediately respond to questions about the issues with Grok.

Grok will be included in the Pentagon's network as controversy surrounds the AI chatbot

Pete Hegseth embraced the Grok chatbot during a speech at SpaceX in Texas. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will join Google's generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military's data as possible into the developing technology. "Very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," Hegseth said in a speech at Musk's space flight company, SpaceX, in South Texas. The announcement comes just days after Grok -- which is embedded into X, the social media network owned by Musk -- drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok, while the U.K.'s independent online safety watchdog announced an investigation Monday. Grok has limited image generation and editing to paying users. Hegseth said Grok will go live inside the Defense Department later this month and announced that he would "make all appropriate data" from the military's IT systems available for "AI exploitation." He also said data from intelligence databases would be fed into AI systems. Hegseth's aggressive push to embrace the still-developing technology stands in contrast to the Biden administration, which, while pushing federal agencies to come up with policies and uses for AI, was also wary of misuse. Officials said rules were needed to ensure that the technology, which could be harnessed for mass surveillance, cyberattacks or even lethal autonomous devices, was being used responsibly. The Biden administration enacted a framework in late 2024 that directed national security agencies to expand their use of the most advanced AI systems but prohibited certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if those prohibitions are still in place under the Trump administration. During his speech, Hegseth spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, saying, "We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose." He noted that the Pentagon possesses "combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations." "AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we're going to make sure that it's there," Hegseth said. The defense secretary said he wants AI systems within the Pentagon to be responsible, though he went on to say he was shrugging off any AI models "that won't allow you to fight wars." Hegseth said his vision for military AI systems means that they operate "without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications," before adding that the Pentagon's "AI will not be woke." Musk developed and pitched Grok as an alternative to what he called "woke AI" interactions from rival chatbots like Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several antisemitic posts. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions about the issues with Grok.

Pentagon is embracing Musk's Grok AI chatbot as it draws global outcry

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will join Google's generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military's data as possible into the developing technology. "Very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," Hegseth said in a speech at Musk's space flight company, SpaceX, in South Texas. The announcement comes just days after Grok -- which is embedded into X, the social media network owned by Musk -- drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok, while the U.K.'s independent online safety watchdog announced an investigation Monday. Grok has limited image generation and editing to paying users. Hegseth said Grok will go live inside the Defense Department later this month and announced that he would "make all appropriate data" from the military's IT systems available for "AI exploitation." He also said data from intelligence databases would be fed into AI systems. Hegseth's aggressive push to embrace the still-developing technology stands in contrast to the Biden administration, which, while pushing federal agencies to come up with policies and uses for AI, was also wary of misuse. Officials said rules were needed to ensure that the technology, which could be harnessed for mass surveillance, cyberattacks or even lethal autonomous devices, was being used responsibly. The Biden administration enacted a framework in late 2024 that directed national security agencies to expand their use of the most advanced AI systems but prohibited certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if those prohibitions are still in place under the Trump administration. During his speech, Hegseth spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, saying, "We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose." He noted that the Pentagon possesses "combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations." "AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we're going to make sure that it's there," Hegseth said. The defense secretary said he wants AI systems within the Pentagon to be responsible, though he went on to say he was shrugging off any AI models "that won't allow you to fight wars." Hegseth said his vision for military AI systems means that they operate "without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications," before adding that the Pentagon's "AI will not be woke." Musk developed and pitched Grok as an alternative to what he called "woke AI" interactions from rival chatbots like Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several antisemitic posts. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions about the issues with Grok.

Pentagon is embracing Musk's Grok AI chatbot as it draws global outcry

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will join Google's generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military's data as possible into the developing technology. "Very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," Hegseth said in a speech at Musk's space flight company, SpaceX, in South Texas. The announcement comes just days after Grok -- which is embedded into X, the social media network owned by Musk -- drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok, while the U.K.'s independent online safety watchdog announced an investigation Monday. Grok has limited image generation and editing to paying users. Hegseth said Grok will go live inside the Defense Department later this month and announced that he would "make all appropriate data" from the military's IT systems available for "AI exploitation." He also said data from intelligence databases would be fed into AI systems. Hegseth's aggressive push to embrace the still-developing technology stands in contrast to the Biden administration, which, while pushing federal agencies to come up with policies and uses for AI, was also wary of misuse. Officials said rules were needed to ensure that the technology, which could be harnessed for mass surveillance, cyberattacks or even lethal autonomous devices, was being used responsibly. The Biden administration enacted a framework in late 2024 that directed national security agencies to expand their use of the most advanced AI systems but prohibited certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if those prohibitions are still in place under the Trump administration. During his speech, Hegseth spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, saying, "We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose." He noted that the Pentagon possesses "combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations." "AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we're going to make sure that it's there," Hegseth said. The defense secretary said he wants AI systems within the Pentagon to be responsible, though he went on to say he was shrugging off any AI models "that won't allow you to fight wars." Hegseth said his vision for military AI systems means that they operate "without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications," before adding that the Pentagon's "AI will not be woke." Musk developed and pitched Grok as an alternative to what he called "woke AI" interactions from rival chatbots like Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several antisemitic posts. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions about the issues with Grok.

Pentagon is embracing Musk's Grok AI chatbot as it draws global outcry

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will join Google's generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military's data as possible into the developing technology. "Very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," Hegseth said in a speech at Musk's space flight company, SpaceX, in South Texas. The announcement comes just days after Grok -- which is embedded into X, the social media network owned by Musk -- drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok, while the U.K.'s independent online safety watchdog announced an investigation Monday. Grok has limited image generation and editing to paying users. Hegseth said Grok will go live inside the Defense Department later this month and announced that he would "make all appropriate data" from the military's IT systems available for "AI exploitation." He also said data from intelligence databases would be fed into AI systems. Hegseth's aggressive push to embrace the still-developing technology stands in contrast to the Biden administration, which, while pushing federal agencies to come up with policies and uses for AI, was also wary of misuse. Officials said rules were needed to ensure that the technology, which could be harnessed for mass surveillance, cyberattacks or even lethal autonomous devices, was being used responsibly. The Biden administration enacted a framework in late 2024 that directed national security agencies to expand their use of the most advanced AI systems but prohibited certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if those prohibitions are still in place under the Trump administration. During his speech, Hegseth spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, saying, "We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose." He noted that the Pentagon possesses "combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations." "AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we're going to make sure that it's there," Hegseth said. The defense secretary said he wants AI systems within the Pentagon to be responsible, though he went on to say he was shrugging off any AI models "that won't allow you to fight wars." Hegseth said his vision for military AI systems means that they operate "without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications," before adding that the Pentagon's "AI will not be woke." Musk developed and pitched Grok as an alternative to what he called "woke AI" interactions from rival chatbots like Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several antisemitic posts. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions about the issues with Grok.

Pentagon Is Embracing Musk's Grok AI Chatbot as It Draws Global Outcry

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will join Google's generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military's data as possible into the developing technology. "Very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," Hegseth said in a speech at Musk's space flight company, SpaceX, in South Texas. The announcement comes just days after Grok -- which is embedded into X, the social media network owned by Musk -- drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok, while the U.K.'s independent online safety watchdog announced an investigation Monday. Grok has limited image generation and editing to paying users. Hegseth said Grok will go live inside the Defense Department later this month and announced that he would "make all appropriate data" from the military's IT systems available for "AI exploitation." He also said data from intelligence databases would be fed into AI systems. Hegseth's aggressive push to embrace the still-developing technology stands in contrast to the Biden administration, which, while pushing federal agencies to come up with policies and uses for AI, was also wary of misuse. Officials said rules were needed to ensure that the technology, which could be harnessed for mass surveillance, cyberattacks or even lethal autonomous devices, was being used responsibly. The Biden administration enacted a framework in late 2024 that directed national security agencies to expand their use of the most advanced AI systems but prohibited certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if those prohibitions are still in place under the Trump administration. During his speech, Hegseth spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, saying, "We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose." He noted that the Pentagon possesses "combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations." "AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we're going to make sure that it's there," Hegseth said. The defense secretary said he wants AI systems within the Pentagon to be responsible, though he went on to say he was shrugging off any AI models "that won't allow you to fight wars." Hegseth said his vision for military AI systems means that they operate "without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications," before adding that the Pentagon's "AI will not be woke." Musk developed and pitched Grok as an alternative to what he called "woke AI" interactions from rival chatbots like Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several antisemitic posts. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions about the issues with Grok.

Pentagon is embracing Musk's Grok AI chatbot as it draws global outcry

The announcement comes just days after Grok - which is embedded into X, the social media network owned by Musk - drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will join Google's generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military's data as possible into the developing technology. "Very soon we will have the world's leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department," Hegseth said in a speech at Musk's space flight company, SpaceX, in South Texas. The announcement comes just days after Grok - which is embedded into X, the social media network owned by Musk - drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok, while the U.K.'s independent online safety watchdog announced an investigation Monday. Grok has limited image generation and editing to paying users. Hegseth said Grok will go live inside the Defense Department later this month and announced that he would "make all appropriate data" from the military's IT systems available for "AI exploitation." He also said data from intelligence databases would be fed into AI systems. Hegseth's aggressive push to embrace the still-developing technology stands in contrast to the Biden administration, which, while pushing federal agencies to come up with policies and uses for AI, was also wary of misuse. Officials said rules were needed to ensure that the technology, which could be harnessed for mass surveillance, cyberattacks or even lethal autonomous devices, was being used responsibly. The Biden administration enacted a framework in late 2024 that directed national security agencies to expand their use of the most advanced AI systems but prohibited certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if those prohibitions are still in place under the Trump administration. During his speech, Hegseth spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, saying, "We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose." He noted that the Pentagon possesses "combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations." "AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we're going to make sure that it's there," Hegseth said. The defense secretary said he wants AI systems within the Pentagon to be responsible, though he went on to say he was shrugging off any AI models "that won't allow you to fight wars." Hegseth said his vision for military AI systems means that they operate "without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications," before adding that the Pentagon's "AI will not be woke." Musk developed and pitched Grok as an alternative to what he called "woke AI" interactions from rival chatbots like Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several antisemitic posts. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions about the issues with Grok.

The Pentagon will use Grok AI for military purposes: The United States military AI "will not be woke"

Further reading (Part 1): Hegseth and Musk promise to make "Star Trek real". United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced a new partnership with Elon Musk's xAI that will bring the Grok chatbot into Pentagon networks, marking an acceleration of the military's embrace of artificial intelligence. Speaking during a visit to SpaceX, Hegseth said leading AI models would soon operate across both classified and unclassified Defense Department systems. Grok will join Google's generative AI tools inside the Pentagon later this month, according to Hegseth, who said the military plans to feed vast amounts of operational and intelligence data into AI systems. He described the effort as essential to speeding up innovation and maintaining an edge, arguing that AI is only as effective as the data it is trained on. The announcement comes amid intensifying controversy around Grok. The chatbot has faced global scrutiny for generating sexualized and nonconsensual deepfake images, prompting Malaysia and Indonesia to block it outright and regulators in the UK and Europe to open investigations. Now, many say the Pentagon's decision risks amplifying concerns. However, Hegseth brushed aside those worries, saying the military needs AI systems that can support real world combat operations without ideological limits. He pledged that Pentagon AI would be responsible but also made clear he had little interest in models that restrict lawful military use, declaring that the United States military AI "will not be woke." The shift signals a break from the more cautious approach taken by the previous administration, which promoted AI adoption while imposing strict limits on sensitive uses. It remains unclear whether those safeguards still apply as the Trump administration pushes to integrate AI more deeply and rapidly into United States defense operations, even as Grok faces mounting questions beyond the battlefield...