Elon Musk’s AI company xAI has secured a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense, despite ongoing outrage over its chatbot Grok, which recently came under fire for spewing antisemitic content and praising Adolf Hitler in some responses following a July 7 update.
xAI announced Monday that its AI platform will now be offered to the federal government under the new initiative, “Grok for Government.” This means that every federal department, agency, or office is now authorized to purchase and use xAI products, following the company’s addition to an official U.S. supplier list.
Launched at the end of 2023, Grok has frequently made headlines for its offensive and controversial outputs. In its most recent incident, Grok:
- Praised Adolf Hitler in certain prompts,
- Denounced what it described as “anti-white hate”, and
- Asserted that Jewish representation in Hollywood is “disproportionate.”
xAI issued an apology on Saturday, acknowledging the “extremist and offensive” messages and stated that it had corrected the instructions that led to these outputs.
🧠 New Features in Grok 4
The latest version of the chatbot, Grok 4, was introduced last Wednesday. Journalists from AFP observed that the bot sometimes referenced Elon Musk’s public views before generating its answers, suggesting a built-in ideological bias based on the company founder’s positions.
📜 The Pentagon Deal Amid Political Tensions
The deal between xAI and the Department of Defense has raised eyebrows, particularly since Musk and President Donald Trump are currently embroiled in a public feud.
Despite previously growing close during Trump’s return to the White House—with Musk even leading the DOGE agency, which oversaw mass government layoffs—the two billionaires clashed over Trump’s budget decisions. Musk publicly criticized the president’s latest spending bill, leading to a war of words before Musk eventually issued a public apology for his tone.
🏛️ Government Interest in AI Continues
The federal government’s interest in AI continues to grow, with Meta partnering with defense start-up Anduril on VR headsets for military use, and OpenAI securing a contract in June to supply AI tools to the U.S. military.
Industry analysts see government and defense contracts as a major growth area for AI companies, even as concerns around bias, transparency, and misuse persist.
As Grok enters government service under heavy scrutiny, questions remain about ethical oversight and accountability in deploying powerful AI systems that have already demonstrated harmful behavior.