The administration of US President Donald Trump has revealed that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok played a role in supporting American military operations, including strikes linked to the conflict with Iran, reported AFP citing US government legal briefing.

The disclosure came in a legal filing by the US Department of Justice on June 15, it added. The filing did not focus on military operations. Instead, it defended the power infrastructure used at xAI’s data centre, which faces an environmental lawsuit.

The government stated that the lawsuit could affect critical AI systems used by the military. Federal prosecutors wrote that the legal challenge “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,” reported AFP. 

How did Grok become part of military operations?

To support its argument, the Justice Department referred to sworn testimony from Cameron Stanley, the Pentagon’s chief of artificial intelligence. According to Stanley’s testimony, Grok is already part of Project Maven, the US military’s programme that uses artificial intelligence to analyse intelligence and help identify targets, reported AFP.

Stanley said Project Maven’s Maven Smart Systems enabled US forces to “deploy over 2,000 munitions to 2,000 distinct targets within 96 hours during Operation Epic Fury.”

He also praised what he called “the greatly increased operational efficiency made possible by the Grok Gov Model.”

Stanley said Grok is one of only three AI products that can support “mission-critical operations” in top-secret environments. He added that the system is “currently capable of supporting national security applications.”

Project Maven has been one of the Pentagon’s most ambitious efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into military planning and targeting. The programme uses machine learning to process large amounts of surveillance and intelligence data, helping military personnel make decisions faster.

Why is xAI facing legal battle?

The Justice Department’s remarks emerged from a case brought by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) against xAI, reported AFP. The civil rights group accused Musk’s company of operating dozens of gas turbines at its data centre without obtaining required permits and violating provisions of the Clean Air Act.

The NAACP said the emissions from the turbines affect neighbourhoods that are predominantly Black. The organisation said that local communities bear the environmental costs of the facility’s operations.

However, xAI rejected the allegations. The company said that the turbines are mobile and temporary and therefore do not require the same permits as permanent power systems.

The legal fight also comes at a time when the US government is reassessing which artificial intelligence companies it wants to work with on national security projects, reported AFP.

At the end of February, the government cancelled contracts with AI safety and research company Anthropic after it refused to allow its AI models to be used for fully automated military strikes or for mass surveillance of American citizens.

The Pentagon then shifted its attention to other major AI companies, including Google, OpenAI and xAI. At Google, more than 600 employees signed a petition demanding that the company reject military contracts related to classified operations, reported CNN.

Musk, a close ally of President Trump, folded xAI into his space company SpaceX in February.