Grok, a chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s company xAI, is expected to be connected to the Pentagon’s computer networks by the end of January and to gain access to all of the department’s data holdings, including intelligence information. This was announced by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
The U.S. armed forces plan to deploy Musk’s AI system alongside Gemini, a chatbot already integrated into military infrastructure and developed by Google.
“In the near future, the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence models will be integrated across all unclassified and classified networks of our department,” Hegseth said while speaking at SpaceX’s offices in Texas, another company owned by Musk.
The Pentagon chief stressed that he does not intend to work with AI models that, in his words, “do not allow wars to be fought.” In his view, artificial intelligence systems must operate “without ideological constraints that interfere with the lawful use of military force.”
Hegseth’s remarks came amid a fresh controversy surrounding Grok. Users of the social network X widely used the chatbot to generate sexualized images, prompting reactions from authorities in several countries. The United Kingdom has opened an investigation into X, while Malaysia and Indonesia have decided to block Grok. In response, the platform said it had restricted the image-generation feature, making it available only to paid subscribers.