xAI's Grok Secures $200 Million Pentagon Contract Amid Controversy

US government announces $200 million Grok contract a week after 'MechaHitler' incident

Lauren Feiner is a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering the intersection of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill. She spent 5 years covering tech policy at CNBC, writing about antitrust, privacy, and content moderation reform. A week after Elon Musk's Grok dubbed itself "MechaHitler" and spewed antisemitic stereotypes, the US government has announced a new contract granting the chatbot's creator, xAI, up to $200 million to modernize the Defense Department. xAI is one of several leading AI companies to receive the award, alongside Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI. But the timing of the announcement is striking given Grok's recent high-profile spiral, which drew congressional ire and public pushback. The use of technology, and especially AI, in the defense space has long been a controversial topic even within the tech industry, and Musk's prior involvement in slashing federal government contracts through his work at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) still raises questions about potential conflicts -- though his relationship with President Donald Trump has more recently soured, and his administration has claimed Musk would step back from any potential conflicts while at DOGE. The contract announcement from the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) is light on details, but says the deals will help the DoD "develop agentic AI workflows across a variety of mission areas." Alongside the contract award, xAI announced "Grok for Government," which it says will supply "frontier AI products" to the US. In addition to the DoD contract, xAI says other federal agencies will now be able to purchase its tools via the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule. The company plans to work on new products for government customers, like custom models focused on national security, applications for healthcare and science use cases, and models accessible in classified environments. Days after changes to Grok sent it off the rails (saying that if "calling out radicals cheering dead kids makes me 'literally Hitler,' then pass the mustache," and referencing a "pattern-noticing meme" where "folks with surnames like 'Steinberg' (often Jewish) keep popping up in extreme leftist activism, especially the anti-white variety"), the company apologized for "the horrific behavior that many experienced." It said the update responsible for Grok's tirades was active for 16 hours but had been deprecated. Instructions given to the chatbot, like to not be "afraid to offend people who are politically correct," had the "undesired" effect of leading it to "ignore its core values in certain circumstances in order to make the response engaging to the user," -- even if that meant "producing responses containing unethical or controversial opinions."

xAI starts offering Grok to US government agencies

Just days after apologizing for Grok's recent hard turn toward antisemitism, xAI has announced a suite of AI products for government use. Grok for Government brings together the company's latest commercial products, including Grok 4 and Deep Search, with special considerations given to the needs of federal, state and local agencies. To that end, xAI says it will design custom models for specific national security and research customers. It will also develop specialized AI applications for use in healthcare, fundamental science and national defense, as well as offer models that can safely be used in classified and restricted environments. Despite President Trump threatening to cut Elon Musk's companies off from government subsidies over their recent public feud, xAI says it already has a contract with the US Department of Defense. The company's products are also available to purchase through General Services Administration schedule, which means every federal government department, agency, or office can potentially access its models. OpenAI, which Musk helped fund in its early days as research lab through donations, launched ChatGPT Gov at the start of the year.

Elon Musk's xAI lands $200 million Pentagon contract amid Grok controversy

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. What just happened? Elon Musk's artificial intelligence start-up xAI has secured a significant contract with the US Department of Defense, worth nearly $200 million. This deal, announced just days after public controversy over antisemitic output produced by xAI's Grok chatbot, places the company among a slate of high-profile AI developers now working with the federal government. On Monday, the Department of Defense announced that it had signed similar agreements, also with ceilings of $200 million, with industry leaders including Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI. This means the Pentagon will have simultaneous access to multiple frontier AI models and workflows. OpenAI's contract, for example, is focused on developing agentic workflows for national security missions. This is part of a notable shift among Silicon Valley firms in their approach to defense contracts. The taboo against working with the Pentagon that once existed in the tech sector is said to have largely diminished, with major players like Meta, Amazon, and Palantir also increasing their collaborations with the government. These contracts, managed in partnership with the General Services Administration, are designed to give government agencies across federal, state, and local levels access to advanced AI tools and applications. Dr. Doug Matty, the Defense Department's chief digital and AI officer, emphasized the importance of integrating AI technologies into government operations. He described the initiative as a means to "accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our joint mission-essential tasks in our warfighting domain as well as intelligence, business and enterprise information systems." For xAI, the contract arrives at a turbulent moment. The company recently issued a public apology after its Grok chatbot generated responses that included Nazi ideology and other offensive content on the social media platform X. xAI said the incident was addressed and introduced a new, advanced version of the Grok model, featuring a monthly subscription fee of $300. The contract is set to provide a major boost for xAI as it vies for market share with more seasoned rivals, notably OpenAI. Musk has marshaled resources from his other technology ventures to support xAI, facilitating substantial investments, such as a $2 billion infusion from SpaceX and moves to have Tesla shareholders weigh in on funding the AI start-up. As part of its agreement with the federal government, xAI presented what it calls "Grok for Government," an initiative to develop tailored AI applications for public sector needs, including healthcare, national security, and other essential services.

Musk's Grok signs $200m deal with Pentagon just days after antisemitism row

Musk said the bot was "too compliant" and "too eager to please". He said the issue was being addressed. Musk's xAI says the new deal will give US government departments access to Grok 4, the latest version of the chatbot, and offer custom tools for national security use. The company also plans to provide technical support for classified environments. The Pentagon also announced awarding similar contracts to Anthropic, Google and OpenAI - each with a $200m ceiling. "The adoption of AI is transforming the Department's ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries," said the administration's Chief Digital and AI Officer Doug Matty. Musk's expanding government partnerships come amid a deteriorating relationship with President Donald Trump. The Tesla and SpaceX boss had spent a quarter of a billion dollars on Trump's re-election effort in 2024, and actively campaigned for him. He was later appointed to run the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) - a federal cost-cutting initiative tasked with reducing the size of the US government. But in recent months, Musk began openly criticising what Trump had dubbed the "Big Beautiful Bill", a sprawling spending and tax cuts legislation that the Tesla boss said was too costly for Americans. Musk resigned from his post at Doge in May, though the department has not been officially disbanded. Since then, Trump had suggested Doge could be deployed to harm Musk's companies. Trump also suggested he might deport Musk, who is an American citizen and was born in South Africa. He also holds Canadian citizenship. While at the helm of Doge, the White House was criticised for allowing Musk to have unfettered access to troves of government data on American citizens. Despite the fall-out, Musk's xAI has continued to expand its government work. Its newly-announced contract may also create an avenue for that data collection to continue. Grok was introduced in late 2023 as a more unfiltered alternative to other AI chatbots like ChatGPT. It is already integrated into Musk's social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Elon Musk's Nazi Robot Just Landed a Contract With the Department of Defense

The U.S. Department of Defense announced new contracts with Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and xAI on Monday that will give the federal agency access to the latest AI agents. The contract with each company has a ceiling of $200 million, and while it's not surprising that DoD is pushing hard into AI, the inclusion of Elon Musk's xAI will raise plenty of eyebrows after Grok's recent erratic behavior. The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) announced the new contracts in a press release Monday, which notes DoD is "implementing a commercial-first approach to accelerating DoD adoption of AI." "Establishing these partnerships will broaden DoD use of and experience in frontier AI capabilities and increase the ability of these companies to understand and address critical national security needs with the most advanced AI capabilities U.S. industry has to offer," the press release explains. But xAI has been generating lots of attention lately that may give people both in and out of government some pause. Grok, xAI's chatbot, started randomly spouting right-wing conspiracy theories back in May about white farmers in South Africa being murdered for their race. And last week, Grok praised Adolf Hitler, spread anti-semitic phrases, and advocated for another Holocaust against Jews. The Grok public relations account on X noted the new contract with DoD in a tweet Monday but also introduced a new suite of products called Grok for Government and said its products would be listed on the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule, a huge win for the company that makes Grok available to federal government employees even beyond the Pentagon. "This allows every federal government department, agency, or office, to purchase xAI products," the company wrote. "Under the umbrella of Grok For Government, we will be bringing all of our world-class AI tools to federal, local, state, and national security customers," the company said in a press release. "These customers will be able to use the Grok family of products to accelerate America â€" from making everyday government services faster and more efficient to using AI to address unsolved problems in fundamental science and technology." Musk held a livestream demonstration about Grok 4 on Wednesday of last week, just a day after the AI chatbot went full Nazi. "America is the world leader in AI, and this is in no small part due to a tradition of innovation and strong investments in engineering and science. We’re excited to contribute back to the country that made xAI uniquely possible here," xAI said in a continued. Musk was recently a special government employee in the White House as the head of DOGE until he had a falling out with President Donald Trump. Musk accused Trump of being in the so-called "Epstein files," in a tweet he later deleted, but the billionaire oligarch seems to have softened his criticism of the president lately, perhaps over fears about losing lucrative government contracts like the one announced today. The Department of Defense under Secretary Pete Hegseth has been fixated on buzzwords like "warfighting" and "warfighters," and adopting new AI tools is part of that mission, according to leaders at the agency. And Monday's press release was filled to the brim with similarly grandiose language. “The adoption of AI is transforming the Department’s ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries,†said DoD Chief Digital and AI Officer Dr. Doug Matty. “Leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our Joint mission essential tasks in our warfighting domain as well as intelligence, business, and enterprise information systems.†Maybe Grok can teach the folks at the Pentagon some new synonyms for warfighter.

Defense Department to begin using Grok, Musk's controversial AI Model

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence start-up said its models are now available to federal agencies. The U.S. Department of Defense will begin using Grok, the AI chatbot built by Elon Musk's start-up xAI, the company announced in a post on Monday. The announcement came as Grok unveiled what it called "Grok for Government," a suite that allows agencies and federal offices to adopt its chatbots for their specific uses. President Donald Trump has encouraged more rapid adoption of artificial intelligence tools since taking office in January. Elon Musk was a member of the Trump administration, overseeing the U.S. DOGE Service, until he departed in late May. He has since become a critic of Trump's signature tax and spending legislation. On Monday, xAI said its products would now be "available to purchase via the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule," allowing "every federal government department, agency, or office" to buy them. Grok came under fire last week after launching into an antisemitic rant and invoking Adolf Hitler after it was a programmed to be less politically correct. The incident prompted the company to say it would improve its model. A day later, xAI unveiled a sweeping update that it claimed put Grok on the cutting edge of AI development. The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. This is a developing story and will be updated.

xAI announces $200m US military deal after Grok chatbot had Nazi meltdown

Defense department also inked contracts with other leading AI firms including Google, Anthropic and OpenAI The week after its Grok chatbot identified itself as "MechaHitler" and generated antisemitic posts, Elon Musk's xAI firm announced a contract with the US Department of Defense worth nearly $200m. The deal is for developing and implementing artificial intelligence tools for the agency. The DoD on Monday also announced similar contracts with $200m ceilings with several other major US-based artificial intelligence developers, including Google, Anthropic and OpenAI. The agency is partnering with the General Services Administration to make these companies' AI tools available for use throughout the federal government. "Leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our joint mission-essential tasks in our warfighting domain as well as intelligence, business, and enterprise information systems," the US chief digital and AI officer Dr Doug Matty said in a statement. The contracts deepen the US military's ties with AI developers and are poised to expand the use of artificial intelligence within the US government after Musk's so-called 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) oversaw mass firings of workers throughout federal agencies. Until Musk's recent falling out with Donald Trump, the xAI founder was de facto leader of Doge as it gutted government agencies and in some cases pushed for departments to use the Grok chatbot. xAI's contract announcement comes after the company was forced to issue a public apology after Grok posted a string of responses on X last week that included promoting Nazi ideology and rape fantasies. The company claimed that it fixed the issue and subsequently unveiled its latest AI model with a $300 a month subscription for an advanced version of the tool. The DoD's contract will give xAI a boost of revenue as it seeks to compete with more established AI developers like OpenAI, which is led by Musk's former associate turned rival, Sam Altman. Musk has been heavily promoting xAI and attempting to use other parts of his tech empire to support its future, including having SpaceX invest $2bn into the startup, allowing it to acquire X, formerly, Twitter, and announcing on Sunday that Tesla shareholders will vote on their own investment in xAI. xAI announced the deal and the creation of what it calls "Grok For Government" in a post on its website on Monday, detailing that in addition to its publicly available products it would create custom AI-powered applications for potential use in healthcare, national security and other public services. "Under the umbrella of Grok For Government, we will be bringing all of our world-class AI tools to federal, local, state, and national security customers," xAI said in a statement on its website. "These customers will be able to use the Grok family of products to accelerate America - from making everyday government services faster and more efficient to using AI to address unsolved problems in fundamental science and technology." Musk has long complained that AI chatbots are designed to promote "woke" ideology and vowed his Grok product would be "maximally truth seeking". It has repeatedly run into controversy over promoting conspiracies and falsehoods, including earlier this year giving unprompted responses that made false claims of "white genocide" taking place in South Africa - echoing claims that Musk has made himself. Ethics watchdogs, Democratic lawmakers and privacy advocates have expressed concerns about how Musk and Doge have implemented AI in government and gained access to sensitive data while embedded at government agencies. Doge staffers previously fed government data into a custom version of Grok's chatbot in a potential violation of privacy and security laws, Reuters reported in May.

Elon Musk's xAI is now working with the federal government

Elon Musk's company xAI announced on Monday a new partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense as well as its new initiative "Grok for Government," a slew of frontier AI products available for U.S. federal government customers. The AI company's new partnerships with the federal government has a $200 million ceiling contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. Its products are available to buy from the General Services Administration's schedule. "This allows every federal government department, agency, or office, to access xAI's frontier AI products," according to a release. Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI were also awarded $200M ceiling contracts with the Defense Department. Musk's company also announced, via X and a press release, that "Grok For Government" will open up all of its AI tools to every level of the U.S. government, as well as national security customers. The post on X did a call out for engineers who "want to join the cause." Some AI tools that will be available to government customers are Grok 4, Deep Search, Tool Use, and more. Aside from these tools, xAI said it'll offer "unique capabilities" to government partners, such as: Custom models for national security and critical science applications, "Forward Deployed Engineering and Implementation Support, with USG cleared engineers," custom AI applications for healthcare and national security, and more. Last week, xAI was under fire after its chatbot Grok made offensive comments about Polish politicians and posted antisemitic comments. Plus last week X CEO Linda Yaccarino resigned as head of the social media platform -- which is owned by xAI.

Elon Musk spent months slashing federal contracts -- Now his AI company is celebrating a $200M Pentagon contract and new unit to get government business

Elon Musk's xAI has signed an important new customer: the U.S. government. The two-year old AI company -- most recently in the news when its chatbot praised Hitler -- said in a blog post Monday that it has launched a new division, called "Grok with Government" and signed a contract worth up to $200 million with the Department of Defense. xAI also announced that it had been added to the General Services Administration schedule, meaning that xAI products will now be available for purchase across every government office and agency. xAI's new DoD contract is part of a new effort to develop AI agent workflows across a "variety of mission areas," the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office said in a press release, without giving many more specifics. Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic were also awarded up to $200 million contracts as part of the new effort, according to the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. A number of tech companies, including Meta, Amazon, and Google, have either started working with or upped their work with the U.S. government in the last year as the taboo in Silicon Valley of working with the Defense Department has fallen away. xAI's new ties with the Pentagon are likely to raise eyebrows, not least because just one week earlier, the company released an update to its Grok AI model that caused it to spew racist comments, including referring to itself as a "MechaHitler." There's also the fact that xAI's CEO, Musk, has spent the last six months trying to trim "wasteful spending" in the government via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE claims to have saved $190 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars by July -- in large part via cutting government contracts it said were outdated or wasteful (DOGE reportedly hasn't provided documentation or evidence for 40% of those cuts, and investigations and analysis into the cuts have suggested that these figures have been greatly exaggerated.) Now, xAI is vying to get the U.S. government to add many more contracts that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Another twist is that the Grok announcement comes at a time when existing government contracts at Musk's various companies appear to be on thin ice. In June, amid the very-public social media spat between Musk and Trump that began with Musk's criticisms of Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," Trump threatened to cut all of Musk's government contracts across his various companies. Musk, in turn, had suggested he would decommission SpaceX's Dragon capsule, currently the primary way for NASA to shuttle astronauts to the International Space Station and back to Earth. Musk's companies have notched more than $38 billion in contracts with the U.S. government over the years. xAI says that it wants to start servicing federal, local, state, and national security customers, and that, for these customers, it would start to build custom models for national security or "critical science" applications that would be available in "classified and other restricted environments" and that it would provide specific engineering support with USG-cleared engineers. While Musk is no longer working with DOGE, he remains well-connected in some government circles. One of his allies within the Trump Administration was Katie Miller, who had served as Mike Pence's press secretary when he was vice president during Trump's first presidency. Miller is also the wife of Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy, and she has since started working for xAI since Musk left DOGE. On Monday, Miller was promoting xAI's new government plans on her social media account, saying that Grok was the "only truth-seeking AI available to the US Government." xAI and the Department of Defense did not respond to requests for comment. GSA said it was working with "several" AI solutions across various agencies and that it welcomes "all American companies and models who abide by our terms and conditions."

Pentagon inks contracts for Musk's xAI, competitors

The Pentagon announced contracts on Monday with multiple leading US artificial intelligence firms including Elon Musk's xAI, which has faced intense scrutiny in recent days over anti-Semitic posts by its Grok chatbot. Each of the contracts to xAI, Anthropic, Google and OpenAI have a ceiling value of $200 million, the Pentagon's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) said in a statement. The awards will enable the Department of Defense "to leverage the technology and talent of US frontier AI companies to develop agentic AI workflows across a variety of mission areas," it said. The contract with xAI comes just days after the company was forced to apologize again for controversial posts by its Grok chatbot. After an update on July 7, the chatbot praised Adolf Hitler in some responses on the X social media platform, denounced "anti-white hate," and described Jewish representation in Hollywood as "disproportionate." xAI apologized for the extremist and offensive messages, and said it had corrected the instructions that led to the incidents. The release on Wednesday of Grok 4, the latest chatbot version, was almost met with scrutiny after it appeared to consult Musk's positions on some questions it was asked before responding. The contract between xAI and the Department of Defense comes even as Musk and President Donald Trump have publicly feuded in recent weeks. Musk, a top backer of Trump's most recent presidential campaign, was entrusted with managing the new agency known as DOGE to massively slash government spending under the current administration. After ending his assignment in May, the South African-born entrepreneur publicly criticized Trump's major budget bill for increasing government debt. The president and the businessman engaged in heated exchanges on social media and in public statements before Musk apologized for some of his more combative messages. 'Critical national security needs' The government and the defense sector are considered a potential growth driver for AI giants. Musk's xAI announced on Monday the launch of a "Grok for Government" service, following a similar initiative by OpenAI. In addition to the Pentagon contract, "every federal government department, agency, or office (can now) purchase xAI products" thanks to its inclusion on an official supplier list, xAI said. Meta meanwhile has partnered with the start-up Anduril to develop virtual reality headsets for soldiers and law enforcement. OpenAI had previously announced in June that it had secured a Defense Department contract with a ceiling of $200 million. "Establishing these partnerships will broaden DoD use of and experience in frontier AI capabilities and increase the ability of these companies to understand and address critical national security needs with the most advanced AI capabilities U.S. industry has to offer," said the CDAO statement on Monday.

Musk's AI firm awarded US government contracts of up to $200m

Deal will allow billionaire's company to scale up adoption of advanced artificial intelligence within the department of defence The Pentagon has awarded up to $200 million in government contracts to Elon Musk's AI firm xAI. Mr Musk's company is one of multiple leading US artificial intelligence firms to be awarded the contracts, including Anthropic, Google and OpenAI. Each individual contract will have a ceiling of $200 million and will be aimed at scaling up adoption of advanced AI capabilities within the department of defence (DoD). The contracts will allow the agency "to leverage the technology and talent of US frontier AI companies to develop agentic AI workflows across a variety of mission areas," it said. It comes as the Tesla billionaire's AI company faces intense scrutiny over anti-Semitic posts made by its "Grok" chatbot on X. The chatbot praised Adolf Hitler in some responses on the platform, denounced "anti-white hate," and described Jewish representation in Hollywood as "disproportionate". xAI apologised for the extremist and offensive messages, and said it had corrected the instructions that led to the incidents. Days later Grok 4, the latest chatbot version, was met with further scrutiny after it appeared to consult Mr Musk's positions on some questions it was asked before responding. AI to address national security challenges The new government contracts will help the DoD use AI to address critical national security challenges, the department's chief digital and artificial intelligence office said. "The adoption of AI is transforming the (DoD's) ability to support our war fighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries," Doug Matty, chief digital and AI officer, said. The award to xAI comes despite an ongoing public feud between Mr Musk and Donald Trump following the billionaire's departure from the White House. The former Doge head and the president turned on each other after Mr Musk came out against the administration's sweeping tax bill, dubbed the "big, beautiful bill". Mr Trump then threatened to take away Mr Musk's government contracts and even said he would "take a look" at deporting the billionaire.

Elon Musk Rages Against Government Spending, But He Just Accepted $200 Million Directly From Your Tax Dollars

Elon Musk's AI startup xAI has announced a nearly $200 million contract with the US Department of Defense for developing AI tools for the military. The news comes a week after xAI's foul-mouthed Grok chatbot had a full-blown Nazi meltdown, referring to itself as "MechaHitler" and making outrageously bigoted claims about Black and Jewish people. In a wordy statement that was thin on details, the DoD's chief digital and AI officer, Doug Matty, lauded the partnership as an important step forward for the US military. "Leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our joint mission-essential tasks in our warfighting domain as well as intelligence, business and enterprise information systems," Matty said. The announcement highlights how cozy Musk's relationship with the government has become, despite his major falling out with president Donald Trump. In May, Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency was heavily criticized for pushing the use of its Grok chatbot at the Department of Homeland Security without the required sign-offs, yet another example of the billionaire's glaring conflicts of interest. Its massive DoD contract could xAI a much-needed influx of cash. The startup has been burning through an astonishing $1 billion per month, forcing a seemingly desperate Musk to siphon off funds from his other businesses to keep it afloat. Apart from the DoD deal, xAI also announced a "Grok for Government" feature, designed to capture the Trump administration's considerable appetite for adopting AI. It also conveniently aligns with the administration's "anti-woke" agenda. Musk has been trying to push Grok to allegedly be "maximally truth seeking" in a purported effort to root out its "woke" tendencies, such as pointing out accurate reporting by trustworthy news sources. Instead, Musk has pushed the chatbot to echo his personal, right-wing extremist beliefs to a near-comical degree. Over the weekend, it emerged that Grok was searching Twitter and the web for Musk's personal views before making up its mind. In other words, the US military is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a chatbot that isn't just happily furthering unhinged conspiracy theories; it's started to act like Musk's own AI shadow, making it a highly questionable choice for the Department of Defense.

Despite Grok's 'MechaHitler' Meltdown, Elon Musk's xAI Scores $200M Pentagon Deal - Decrypt

Not even a "MechaHitler" meltdown was enough to scare off the Pentagon, apparently. Just days after xAI's Grok chatbot generated a stream of antisemitic and homophobic responses, Elon Musk's company announced that it secured a $200 million defense contract to develop and supply AI tools to federal workers. The Department of Defense's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office announced the contract on Monday, saying it is designed to help the government tap into the latest AI tools for everything from battlefield operations to business needs. "The adoption of AI is transforming the Department's ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries," CDAO Chief Digital and AI Officer Dr. Doug Matty said in a statement. "Leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our joint mission essential tasks in our warfighting domain as well as intelligence, business, and enterprise information systems." According to Lucas Hansen, the co-founder of the AI security and education nonprofit CivAI, the deal with xAI is less about immediate use and more about keeping pace with global rivals. "The government wants to support the frontier labs and development of AI so that the U.S. doesn't fall behind China," Hansen told Decrypt. "Then there's the question of how those funds are distributed and how that support is provided. I think this might just be the specific way they've chosen to support the companies, rather than an expectation of internal deployment immediately." But Hansen warned that Grok's underlying behavior raises deeper concerns about how it might act in high-stakes government settings. "Even if Grok is deployed by the government using the same version that previously showed a willingness to generate harmful responses, then -- even if those use cases aren't explicitly antisemitic or hateful -- it's fundamentally more likely to behave unethically and autonomously," he said. Grok has been the center of several public meltdowns. In May, reports surfaced that Grok inserted "white genocide" claims into unrelated prompts. xAI blamed the issue on a rogue employee. Last week, just before the Grok 4 launch, the chatbot again drew criticism for a wave of racist and homophobic outputs, leading to the resignation of X CEO Linda Yaccarino. While concerns linger over how Grok might behave in sensitive environments, Hansen said the version the Pentagon uses is not likely to be the same as the one that X users have had access to since November 2023. The $200 million award is the latest deal between the United States military and top AI developers. Other AI developers receiving $200 million contracts include Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI. In November, Meta said it would make its open-source Llama AI model available to U.S. defense agencies and contractors. In June, ChatGPT developer OpenAI was awarded its own $200 million contract with the Department of Defense, launching its AI suite, OpenAI for Government. If the Pentagon deployed Grok over a rival, Hansen emphasized it would be because Grok is "open-weight," meaning it can be run on private hardware and not require an API connection back to xAI. Despite Grok's recent controversies, at the heart of the deal, Hansen said, may be a simple strategic calculation: Stay close to the key players shaping the future of AI. "I think most of this is the government wanting to have a relationship with all the frontier labs, and they hit the four labs that actually matter," he said. In a separate statement announcing the deal with the Pentagon, xAI said its mission is to create AI tools to "assist humanity in our quest for understanding and knowledge." To do this, xAI announced the launch of Grok for Government, a suite of AI tools including the recently launched Grok 4 and Deep Search. "America is the world leader in AI, and this is in no small part due to a tradition of innovation and strong investments in engineering and science," xAI wrote. "We're excited to contribute back to the country that made xAI uniquely possible here."

Elon Musk's xAI inks Pentagon deal for contentious Grok chatbot

New York (AFP) - Elon Musk's xAI, which features a large language model that has spewed Hitler-supporting rhetoric and antisemitic tropes, said Monday it has signed a deal to provide its services to the US Department of Defense. Launched at the end of 2023, Grok has rarely been out of the headlines for its offensive gaffes, and will now offer its services as "Grok for Government." In addition to the Pentagon contract, "every federal government department, agency, or office (can now) purchase xAI products" thanks to its inclusion on an official supplier list, xAI added. After an update on July 7, the chatbot praised Adolf Hitler in some responses, denounced on X "anti-white hate", and described Jewish representation in Hollywood as "disproportionate." xAI apologized on Saturday for extremist and offensive messages, and said it had corrected the instructions that led to the incidents. The new version of the chatbot, Grok 4, presented on Wednesday, consulted Musk's positions on some questions it was asked before responding, an AFP correspondent saw. The contract between xAI and the Department of Defense comes even as Musk and President Donald Trump are locked in a bitter feud. The two men became close during Trump's latest run for the presidency and, following the inauguration, the Republican billionaire entrusted Musk with managing the new agency known as DOGE to slash the government by firing tens of thousands of civil servants. After ending his assignment in May, the South African-born entrepreneur publicly criticized Trump's major budget bill for increasing government debt. The president and the businessman engaged in heated exchanges on social media and in public statements before Musk apologized for some of his more combative messages. The government and the defense sector are considered a potential growth driver for AI giants. Meta has partnered with the start-up Anduril to develop virtual reality headsets for soldiers and law enforcement, while in June OpenAI secured a contract to provide AI services to the US military.

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

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."

US Defense Department awards $200 million contract to Elon Musk's Grok aka 'MechaHitler' and is looking forward to deploying it 'in our warfighting domain'

Actual decision-making will remain in the hands of humans, probably. The United States' Defense Department has announced the award of a $200 million contract to xAI's Grok, the chatbot most recently in the news for declaring itself "MechaHitler" and going on bizarre rants about anti-White oppression. What could go wrong! The news came alongside xAI's announcement of "Grok for Government," a toolset that lets agencies adapt the chatbot for specific purposes. xAI said its offerings are now "available to purchase via the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule" with "every federal government department, agency, or office" able to buy them. Get ready for some high-level nonsense. "The adoption of AI is transforming the Department's ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries," said chief digital and AI officer Doug Matty. "Leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our joint mission-essential tasks in our warfighting domain as well as intelligence, business, and enterprise information systems." That phrase "in our warfighting domain" seems quite troubling, though what Grok is actually going to be used for remains intentionally vague. One would hope it's not used for anything that's, y'know, actually important or that lives depend upon: because like all LLMs Grok frequently gets things wrong and is an unthinking piece of software with no understanding of its actions or their consequences. I mean, you don't want this thing anywhere near decisions that actually matter. Just last week Grok went on an antisemitic tear, and decided to tell people that Hitler had some good ideas, actually. Elon Musk claimed that the poor thing had been "manipulated" by nasty humans, an occupational hazard for any chatbot, and a day later xAI announced Grok 4, which it claims is "the most intelligent model in the world." The deal comes after the Trump administration, of which Musk was a member until recently, passed an executive order in April promoting the adoption of AI. Trump also revoked a 2023 executive order issued by President Joe Biden intended to place various safeguards on the technology. xAI joins OpenAI, Anthropic and Google in having a $200 million contract with the DoD, which is clearly keeping its options open. The agency says it will be partnering with the General Services Administration to make the tools available throughout the federal government. "Under the umbrella of Grok For Government, we will be bringing all of our world-class AI tools to federal, local, state, and national security customers," said xAI in a statement. "These customers will be able to use the Grok family of products to accelerate America -- from making everyday government services faster and more efficient to using AI to address unsolved problems in fundamental science and technology." Oh yeah: Musk reckons that xAI is going to discover "new physics" and "new technologies" within the next year. Good luck with that. The big question here is what Grok and the other LLMs are actually going to be used for. Grok itself tells me it'll be "analyzing data in real time to flag threats, such as detecting anomalies in network traffic for cybersecurity or identifying patterns in surveillance data." That likely means processing satellite imagery and signals intelligence, though actual decision-making will remain in the hands of humans. DoD directive 3000.09 on "autonomy in weapon systems" emphasises that humans must be involved in any decision leading to potentially lethal actions. So relax: Grok can't nuke us. For now, anyway.

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

Patrick Maguire is an Associate Producer at CBS News based in Washington, D.C. 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."

Defense Department to begin using Grok, Musk's controversial AI model

The Defense Department will begin using Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot built by Elon Musk's start-up xAI, the company said in a post Monday. The xAI announcement came as Grok unveiled what it called "Grok for Government," a suite that allows agencies and federal offices to adopt its chatbots for their specific uses. President Donald Trump has encouraged more rapid adoption of artificial intelligence tools since taking office in January. Musk was a member of the Trump administration, overseeing the U.S. DOGE Service, until late May. He has since become a critic of Trump's signature tax and spending legislation. On Monday, xAI said its products will be "available to purchase via the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule," allowing "every federal government department, agency, or office" to buy them. In a news release, the Defense Department said the contract award is worth up to $200 million. The department issued similar awards to Google, Anthropic and OpenAI, it said. "Today's awards bring in the best U.S.-based frontier AI talent to help apply cutting-edge AI to solve DoD use cases," said the announcement, from the agency's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. Grok came under fire last week after launching into an antisemitic rant and invoking Adolf Hitler after it was a programmed to be less politically correct. The incident prompted the company to say it would improve its model. A day later, xAI unveiled a sweeping update that it claimed put Grok on the cutting edge of AI development. But the damage was done. The incident last week demonstrated the pitfalls of rapid deployment of new technology in the AI arms race and the potential consequences of training flaws or the manipulation of existing models by users. The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment beyond its news release.

Elon Musk's xAI Announces Grok for Government to Build AI Products for US

Apart from xAI, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic have also won contracts Grok for Government, a new initiative by Elon Musk-owned xAI, was announced on Monday. The initiative will build "frontier artificial intelligence (AI) products" for the US government agencies and create agentic workflows for them. Separately, the AI firm also won a contract with a ceiling of $200 million (roughly Rs. 1,716 crores) from the US Department of Defense to develop AI capabilities. The same contract was also given to Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI. xAI stated that the Grok forGovernment suite will be powered by foundation models such as Grok 4. In a newsroom post, the Elon Musk-owned AI firm stated that the Grok for Government initiative will facilitate the company's cutting-edge AI tools to "federal, local, state, and national security customers." Grok makers also highlighted that supporting critical missions of the US government is part of the AI firm's larger mission to assist humanity in the "quest for understanding and knowledge." xAI said it will build unique capabilities for the US government. Some of these include custom AI models for national security and critical science applications, engineering and implementation support from USG cleared engineers, custom AI applications in the field of healthcare, fundamental science, and national security, as well as specific large language models that can be used in classified and other restricted environments. Additionally, the AI firm said that it will offer its latest and most advanced model, Grok 4, and its reasoning capabilities to the US government as well. The company also highlighted that it will build tools such as Deep Search, Tool Use, and other integration-focused features with the help of government partnerships as well. Separately, xAI also secured a $200 million contract from the US Department of Defense. According to a Reuters report, the contract will help the department develop agentic AI workflows to address critical challenges in national security. Chief Digital and AI Officer Doug Matty told the publication, "The adoption of AI is transforming the (DoD's) ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries." Notably, similar contracts have been earned by Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI. Interestingly, the announcement for the new contract and the Grok for Government initiative came on the same day Elon Musk announced the new Companion feature for the chatbot, which offers a goth anime girl as an AI avatar that can move around and react to users' prompts. These avatars also have an not safe for work (NSFW) mode, where the girl, Ani, wears revealing clothes and speaks in a sexual tone. On Monday, Grok began calling itself "MechaHitler" when a user on X asked about its surname. The chatbot also generated responses to user queries in the fashion of a fascist dictator. Later, the official handle of xAI acknowledged the issue in a post and said the error occurred as Grok picked the name from a viral meme. The glitch has now been fixed, and related posts have been deleted.

Elon Musk's Grok is now working for the US government -- here's what that means

Elon Musk's xAI has introduced "Grok for Government," with the Department of Defense set to utilize the Grok AI model. This $200 million contract aims to enhance government services, address national security, and tackle scientific challenges. The move follows recent controversies over Grok's generation of offensive content, raising concerns about using commercial AI in sensitive sectors. Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, has officially entered the US government. In a Monday announcement, the tech billionaire's AI startup xAI unveiled a new initiative called "Grok for Government," confirming that the Department of Defense (DOD) will begin using the controversial AI model, as per a Newsweek report. The rollout marks a major leap for Grok, as just days ago, the chatbot made headlines for generating offensive and antisemitic content on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), raising red flags about the use of powerful commercial AI in sensitive national security environments, according to the report. Grok, first released in late 2023, was designed as an AI companion for X's premium users, known for its "anti-censorship" stance and Musk's public criticism over its perceived liberal leanings, as reported by Newsweek. ALSO READ: 15 million Americans just got bad news - Judge reverses rule that would've wiped medical debt from credit reports But now, the firm revealed that Grok's new $200 million maximum contract with the DOD will allow the latest iteration of the AI model, Grok 4, to assist in making government services faster and more efficient and to address national security and scientific challenges, as reported by Newsweek. xAI said the deal also now lists it as a vendor with the General Services Administration (GSA), meaning every federal department, agency, or office can potentially tap into the chatbot's capabilities, according to the report. The AI startup also revealed that it had been working closely with "leaders in the government" to discuss what their requirements were, and as a result, the company was offering specific items for its government customers, as reported by Newsweek. The company said it included "custom models for national security and critical science applications available to specific customers" and models that can work in "classified and other restricted environments," as quoted in the report. ALSO READ: Fire in the sky! Israeli F-15 nearly touches down in Tehran after mid-air emergency This new chapter comes just a week after Grok was at the center of a firestorm. In response to user prompts, the chatbot generated messages referencing Adolf Hitler and mocking Jewish names in the context of left-wing activism, as per the Newsweek report. The posts, which went live on X, were quickly removed, and xAI said it was working to "actively working to remove the inappropriate posts," as quoted in the report. Following the incident, Linda Yaccarino, the then-CEO of X, resigned from her position, as reported by Newsweek. According to the Newsweek report, Grok's recent controversy has raised broader concerns over the risks of using powerful, fast-evolving commercial AI within sensitive government and military contexts. The timing of the DOD deal is also notable as Musk's once-close relationship with US President Donald Trump has reportedly soured, culminating in Trump threatening to pull federal contracts from Musk's companies, as per the report. Is Grok really being used by the Pentagon? Yes. Musk's company, xAI, announced a contract with the DOD to use Grok in government and defense work, as per the Newsweek report. How much is the Grok government contract worth? The contract is worth up to $200 million, according to the report.

Elon Musk's xAI announces suite of AI models for US government - The Economic Times

xAI , Elon Musk's AI company, which powers the controversial chatbot Grok, said in a post on X that it has a new contract from the US Department of Defense. Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI on Monday announced Grok for Government, a suite of its frontier models for the US government customers. The company, which powers the controversial chatbot Grok, said in a post on X that it has a new contract from the US Department of Defense. "We are especially excited about our products being available to purchase via the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule. This allows every federal government department, agency, or office, to purchase xAI products," the post read. This comes after a very public dispute between Musk and President Donald Trump, where the latter also threatened to deport the billionaire. When Musk still headed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), there were reports that xAI was being used within the US federal government for data analysis purposes, including at agencies like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), even though Grok was not officially approved within some departments.

Trump DOD Gives $200M Contract To Elon Musk's AI Company

The company's signature chatbot recently called itself "MechaHitler." In what sure seems like a bad idea, the Defense Department has awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to an AI company whose signature product, the chatbot Grok, began calling itself "MechaHitler" last week. The contract, awarded to Elon Musk's xAI, has a $200 million ceiling. Anthropic, Google and OpenAI also signed similar contracts with the DOD Monday. The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) confirmed the contracts in a statement that praised the technology itself while offering little insight into how it might actually be used. "Leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our Joint mission essential tasks in our warfighting domain as well as intelligence, business, and enterprise information systems," the statement read. Separately on Monday, xAI also announced it would also pursue deals with other federal, state and local agencies under an initiative it's calling "Grok for Government." The program allows government agencies to purchase xAI products via the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule. Which means, if xAI gets its way, Grok will not only have access to -- but will be paid handsomely by U.S. taxpayers to ingest -- data pertaining to: national security, critical science and health care, in addition to data generated in "classified and other restricted environments." Grok is a product of xAI, the AI tech company that acquired X (formerly Twitter) in March in a bit of dubious bookkeeping that conveniently allowed Musk to skirt responsibility for Twitter/X's sharp decline in value under his ownership. Musk was a close ally of President Donald Trump until the two had a spectacular falling out last month over Trump's deficit-swelling signature piece of legislation. Despite the very public breakup, Musk's various companies nevertheless appear to have landed large contracts both with the federal government and in foreign countries that previously rejected him. The Federal Aviation Administration has been pushed to grant a $2 billion contract to Musk's satellite-based internet company, Starlink, for instance. And Starlink reportedly had U.S. State Department officials exert "maximum pressure" on developing countries to open themselves up for business.

Elon Musk's xAI Launches 'Grok For Government' After Winning $200 Million Pentagon Contract - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI has announced it is introducing its AI model Grok for government uses, as the Pentagon recently awarded the company multi-million-dollar defense contracts. What Happened: "Announcing Grok for Government - a suite of products that make our frontier models available to United States Government customers," the company said in a social media post on X on Monday. The company also announced "two new partnerships" with the U.S. government, including a defense contract awarded by the Pentagon as well as xAI products "being available to purchase via the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule," which allows federal agencies/departments to buy approved products. Why It Matters: The news comes as xAI was awarded defense contracts worth over $200 million, along with companies like Alphabet Inc.'s GOOGL GOOG Google and Anthropic. The deal has been criticized by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass). xAI has also been in the news recently amid talks of a merger with Musk's other companies, like SpaceX and Tesla Inc. TSLA. SpaceX also recently invested over $2 billion in xAI. Elsewhere, Musk has teased an "epic" demo from Tesla by the end of the year, sparking buzz about possible developments with the company's Optimus line of humanoid robots as well as the Cybercab. Check out more of Benzinga's Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link. Read Next: Will Your Tesla Car Support Grok? Only These Vehicles Will Be Able To Run Elon Musk-Led xAI's Latest AI Model Photo courtesy: JRdes / Shutterstock.com GOOGAlphabet Inc$182.450.63%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum31.74Growth86.73Quality85.36Value51.71Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewGOOGLAlphabet Inc$181.230.58%TSLATesla Inc$316.020.80%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Elon Musk's AI Chatbot Grok to be Used by Federal Agencies

Taliban Revenge Killing Puts Court Spotlight on Documentary Ethics The government is accelerating adoption of artificial intelligence technology, beginning with the U.S. Department of Defense using Grok, the AI chatbot embedded into X. Elon Musk's startup xAI announced on Monday a $200 million government contract as the Defense Department aims to address national security concerns with AI technology. It's also rolling out what it called "Grok for Government," a suite of products that can be customized for specific uses across science and healthcare, among other things. The partnership was unveiled on the heels of Grok last week launching into an antisemitic tirade after it was updated to reduce its reliance on mainstream media sources. In a June X post, Musk, who oversaw DOGE and is now on the outs with President Trump over his spending and tax bill, prompted users to reply with "divisive" and "politically incorrect" facts to train the chatbot. Anthropic, Google and OpenAI were also tapped to receive awards, according to the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. "The adoption of AI is transforming the Department's ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries," said department chief Doug Matty in a statement. "Leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our Joint mission essential tasks in our warfighting domain as well as intelligence, business, and enterprise information systems." "Grok for Government" will be available to federal, state, local and national security customers who will be able to use the technology to streamline certain processes and "address unsolved problems in fundamental science," xAI said. The government has been implementing a commercial-first approach to hastening AI adoption, with the Defense Department awarding similar contracts with OpenAI, Microsoft and Anthropic. "These advanced AI solutions will enable the DoD to effectively address defense challenges and scale the adoption of agentic AI across enterprise systems to drive innovation and efficiency with agile, proven technology," Jim Kelly, vice president of Federal Sales for Google Public Sector, wrote in a blog post. "This milestone demonstrates a strengthened partnership between Google Public Sector and DoD CDAO to accelerate the federal adoption of cutting-edge data, analytics, and AI."

Elon Musk's xAI inks Pentagon deal for contentious Grok chatbot

NEW YORK -- Elon Musk's xAI, which features a large language model that has spewed Hitler-supporting rhetoric and antisemitic tropes, said Monday it has signed a deal to provide its services to the U.S. Department of Defense. Launched at the end of 2023, Grok has rarely been out of the headlines for its offensive gaffes, and will now offer its services as "Grok for Government." In addition to the Pentagon contract, "every federal government department, agency, or office (can now) purchase xAI products" thanks to its inclusion on an official supplier list, xAI added. After an update on July 7, the chatbot praised Adolf Hitler in some responses, denounced on X "anti-white hate", and described Jewish representation in Hollywood as "disproportionate." xAI apologized on Saturday for extremist and offensive messages, and said it had corrected the instructions that led to the incidents. The new version of the chatbot, Grok 4, presented on Wednesday, consulted Musk's positions on some questions it was asked before responding, an AFP correspondent saw. The contract between xAI and the U.S. Department of Defense comes even as Musk and President Donald Trump are locked in a bitter feud. The two men became close during Trump's latest run for the presidency and, following the inauguration, the Republican billionaire entrusted Musk with managing the new agency known as DOGE to slash the government by firing tens of thousands of civil servants. After ending his assignment in May, the South African-born entrepreneur publicly criticized Trump's major budget bill for increasing government debt. The president and the businessman engaged in heated exchanges on social media and in public statements before Musk apologized for some of his more combative messages. The government and the defence sector are considered a potential growth driver for AI giants. Meta has partnered with the start-up Anduril to develop virtual reality headsets for soldiers and law enforcement, while in June OpenAI secured a contract to provide AI services to the U.S. military.