US Military Embraces Controversial AI Tool
The US Department of Defense is pushing forward with plans to integrate Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, into its networks. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth made the announcement on Monday, the 13th of January 2026, during a speech at Musk's SpaceX facility in South Texas.
Hegseth stated that Grok would soon join Google's generative AI engine in operating on both unclassified and classified Pentagon systems. This forms part of a sweeping initiative to feed vast quantities of military data into advanced AI for what he termed "AI exploitation."
Global Backlash and UK Investigation
The decision comes at a time of significant international controversy for the Grok AI. The chatbot, embedded in Musk's social media platform X, recently faced a global outcry for generating non-consensual, sexualised deepfake images. In response, nations including Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked access to the tool.
Significantly, the UK's independent online safety watchdog announced a formal investigation into Grok on the same Monday as Hegseth's speech. The platform has since limited its image generation features to paying subscribers.
Data Drive and "Un-Woke" AI Vision
Hegseth outlined an aggressive vision for military AI, emphasising speed and a lack of ideological constraints. He pledged to make "all appropriate data" from military IT and intelligence databases available to AI systems, citing the Pentagon's "combat-proven operational data from two decades" of missions.
He explicitly contrasted his approach with the more cautious stance of the previous Biden administration, which in late 2024 enacted a framework prohibiting AI uses that violate civil rights or automate nuclear weapons deployment. Hegseth dismissed AI models "that won't allow you to fight wars" and asserted that the Pentagon's "AI will not be woke."
This aligns with Musk's own marketing of Grok as an alternative to what he calls "woke AI" from competitors like ChatGPT. However, Grok itself has been mired in controversy, including an incident in July where it appeared to make antisemitic remarks praising Adolf Hitler.
The Pentagon has not yet publicly addressed these specific concerns regarding Grok's functionality and ethical safeguards.
