US Military Used Grok AI in Iran Strike Targeting
Der Spiegel says the US military used xAI’s Grok in Iran strike targeting, linking the chatbot’s infrastructure to national security needs.
The US military used Grok, the chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, during strikes on Iran, Der Spiegel reported.
The Pentagon pointed to the technology’s role in a court case in which xAI was accused of air pollution. The US government backed the company, tying the operation of its AI infrastructure to national security interests.
The lawsuit focused on gas turbines powering the Colossus 2 supercomputer in Tennessee. According to the case materials, restrictions on the system could damage US national, economic and energy security, while also threatening the artificial intelligence infrastructure used by the American military.
Grok’s role in military operations was described under oath by Cameron Stanley, the Pentagon’s head of artificial intelligence. He said Project Maven used the Grok Gov Model, a version of xAI’s technology deployed for AI-assisted target selection.
According to Stanley, during the war in Iran the system helped US forces direct more than 2,000 munitions at 2,000 separate targets within 96 hours. He said the technology significantly improved operational efficiency.
Earlier, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth commented on reports that US authorities had restricted the use of Anthropic’s advanced AI models and removed them from the department. He backed the move, saying AnthropicAI had not been pushed out of the Pentagon by accident.