A US legal brief reveals the Pentagon deployed Elon Musk's Grok AI for airstrikes against Iran.
The "Grok Gov Model" assisted Project Maven forces in launching 2,000 munitions during Operation Epic Fury.
The military pivoted to xAI after Anthropic blocked its tools from being used for automated strikes.
The United States military has integrated Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence tool, Grok, into its combat operations, using the technology to help execute airstrikes against targets in Iran. The revelation emerged in a federal legal briefing reviewed on Tuesday by AFP, marking a significant escalation in the Pentagon's deployment of commercial AI on the battlefield.
The disclosure highlights the rapid militarisation of silicon valley tech following a quiet restructuring of the Pentagon's supplier network earlier this year. While the US government previously relied on other AI models, it pivoted to Musk’s xAI platform after rival developers balked at the ethical implications of fully automated warfare. The integration has now tethered the tech firm directly to active American military operations in the Middle East.
According to AFP, the June 15 legal brief was filed by the US Department of Justice to defend the gas turbines powering a massive xAI data centre, which is currently the target of an environmental lawsuit. Federal prosecutors argued that the legal challenge "threatens American national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War's military operations."
To anchor its defence, the government submitted sworn testimony from Pentagon AI chief Cameron Stanley. Stanley stated under oath that Grok is actively utilised within Project Maven, the American military’s AI-assisted targeting initiative. The project's Maven Smart Systems (MSS) "enabled US forces to deploy over 2,000 munitions to 2,000 distinct targets within 96 hours during Operation Epic Fury," Stanley's statement revealed. He praised the technology, noting "the greatly increased operational efficiency made possible by the Grok Gov Model."
Project Maven was initially powered by Anthropic's Claude model. However, at the end of February, the US government terminated its contracts with Anthropic after the firm refused to allow its tools to be used for fully automated strikes or the mass surveillance of Americans. AFP reported that the Pentagon subsequently turned to Anthropic's competitors, including Google, OpenAI, and xAI, to sustain its military AI development.
The transition has not been seamless. The US government had to acknowledge in March that Claude was still being used for the war in Iran, reflecting the time required for the military to shift its reliance to new software. Furthermore, the reliance on big tech has sparked internal resistance. At Google, more than 600 employees demanded that the company decline providing AI to the military for classified operations, amidst broader industry concerns regarding the existential threats of artificial intelligence.
Locally, Musk's infrastructure faces intense domestic scrutiny. The NAACP, a civil rights organisation defending Black Americans' rights, is suing xAI, accusing the company of operating dozens of turbines without permits in violation of the Clean Air Act. The rights group contends that the machinery pollutes majority Black neighbourhoods. Conversely, xAI maintains that the turbines are temporary and mobile, arguing they are therefore exempt from standard environmental regulations.
The legal battle arrives during a period of massive corporate restructuring and financial growth for Musk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump. In February, Musk folded xAI into his space exploration corporation, SpaceX. Months later, on June 12, the consolidated venture carried out the largest IPO in history, reported AFP.
(With inputs from AFP)
