Pentagon integrates Grok AI chatbot into military networks

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot will be added to the Pentagon’s AI tools and is expected to go live later this month, and he said military data and some intelligence databases would be made available for AI use. The move comes as Grok faces international scrutiny over deepfake image generation and a new U.K. investigation.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a speech at SpaceX that the Pentagon will add Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot to its suite of generative AI tools operating on department networks. He described a broader push to make military IT and some intelligence data accessible to those systems. Hegseth said the effort aims to place leading AI models on unclassified and classified networks across the department. The announcement followed recent controversy over Grok’s image-generation features and related international responses. Known details: - Hegseth announced Grok will join Google’s generative AI engine inside Pentagon networks and said it is scheduled to go live later this month. - He said the department will make “appropriate data” from military IT systems and some intelligence databases available for AI use. - Grok has drawn scrutiny for generating sexualized deepfake images without consent, prompting blocks in Malaysia and Indonesia and an announced investigation by a U.K. online safety regulator. Summary: The announcement signals a push by Pentagon leadership to integrate commercial AI models more broadly into military systems, using accumulated operational data as training inputs. Deployment is planned for later this month, and officials described making department data available for AI processing. External reviews and national actions against Grok are underway, and it is reported as unclear whether prior federal limits on certain AI uses remain in effect under the current administration.