Government Agencies Raise Alarm About Use of Elon Musk’s Grok Chatbot

Officials at multiple federal agencies have raised concerns about the safety and reliability of Elon Musk’s xAI artificial-intelligence tools in recent months, highlighting continuing disagreements within the U.S. government about which AI models to deploy. The warnings preceded the Pentagon’s decision this week to put xAI at the center of some of the nation’s most sensitive and secretive operations by agreeing to allow its chatbot Grok to be used in classified settings. The Pentagon has given one of xAI’s rivals, Anthropic, a deadline to agree to looser rules on its use by the U.S. military. Anthropic was the only developer approved for classified use before the deal between xAI and the military. Throughout the government, agencies are racing to deploy AI for a host of purposes but the debate over which models to use has become increasingly political. Senior U.S. officials including at the White House view Anthropic’s outspoken stances on safety and ties to big Democratic donors as potentially making the company too “woke” to be a reliable provider, people familiar with the matter said. The looser controls on Grok, and Musk’s absolutist stance on free speech, have made it a more attractive choice to the Pentagon. Other officials have questioned whether Grok’s looser controls present risks.