Grok In US-Iran War: Tech billioniare Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok was used to launch thousands of missiles in Iran, the United States government revealed in a legal briefing in a court
case involving Musk’s AI company, xAI, as reported by news agency AFP.
According to a legal brief submitted by the US Department of Justice as part of a lawsuit challenging the operation of gas-powered turbines at at an xAI data centre, the Trump administration argued that the facilities are critical to national security because they support artificial intelligence systems used by the US military.
Pentagon’s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer, Cameron Stanley, stated in the filing that Grok is among a small number of AI models capable of supporting national security applications. According to the filing, Grok’s government-focused model is being used within Project Maven, the US military’s AI-assisted targeting programme.
Stanley said Maven Smart Systems enabled US forces to deploy more than 2,000 munitions against 2,000 targets within a 96-hour period during Operation Epic Fury. Stanley praised Musk’s technology and “the greatly increased operational efficiency made possible by the Grok Gov Model.”
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 said.
The revelation is among the clearest acknowledgements yet that the Pentagon is using Musk’s AI technology in operational military settings. The disclosure comes amid growing scrutiny of the military’s use of artificial intelligence, particularly following reports that US-led strikes resulted in civilian casualties.
The legal filing was made in response to a lawsuit by the NAACP, which alleges that xAI is operating dozens of gas-burning turbines without the permits required under the Clean Air Act. The Justice Department has argued that restricting xAI’s operations could affect technologies considered important to US national security.
In the brief, the DOJ furtherargued that the lawsuit “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.”
The case has also reignited debate over the expanding role of AI in warfare. Several lawmakers and experts have called for stricter safeguards to ensure that human commanders remain responsible for life-and-death decisions, even as AI tools become more deeply integrated into military planning and targeting systems.
At the end of February, the government terminated its contracts with Anthropic after it refused to allow its tools to be used for fully automated strikes or the mass surveillance of Americans.
The Pentagon then turned to Anthropic’s competitors, like Google, OpenAI and xAI, to continue its pursuit of AI.
At Google, more than 600 employees demanded the company not provide AI to the military for classified operations. Others have raised broad concerns about AI’s threats.
(With inputs from agencies)
