The United States government has disclosed that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence tool Grok was used to support military operations against Iran, according to a legal filing obtained by AFP.
The revelation was contained in a June 15 court brief defending the operation of gas turbines powering a massive data centre owned by Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, which is currently facing an environmental lawsuit.
In the filing, the US Department of Justice argued that shutting down the turbines would undermine “American national, economic, and energy security” by disrupting AI innovation that supports the Department of War’s military operations.
To support its case, federal prosecutors submitted sworn testimony from Pentagon AI chief Cameron Stanley, who disclosed that Grok is now integrated into Project Maven, the US military’s AI-assisted targeting programme that was previously powered by Anthropic’s Claude model.
According to Stanley, Project Maven’s Maven Smart Systems (MSS) enabled US forces to deploy more than 2,000 munitions against 2,000 separate targets within 96 hours during Operation Epic Fury.
He also praised the capabilities of Musk’s technology, highlighting the “greatly increased operational efficiency made possible by the Grok Gov Model.”
The legal dispute stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the NAACP, which accuses xAI of operating dozens of gas turbines without the necessary permits in violation of the Clean Air Act. The civil rights organisation argued that the turbines emit pollutants that disproportionately affect predominantly Black communities.
However, xAI has maintained that the turbines were temporary and mobile units that were not subject to the regulations cited in the lawsuit.
The court filing also revealed that the US government ended its contracts with Anthropic at the end of February after the AI company declined to permit its technology to be used for fully automated military strikes or for the mass surveillance of Americans.
Following that decision, the Pentagon reportedly shifted its focus to other AI developers, including Google, OpenAI and xAI, as it continued expanding the military’s use of artificial intelligence.
The move has sparked internal resistance within parts of the technology industry. More than 600 Google employees have reportedly called on the company not to provide AI systems for classified military operations, while other experts have raised broader concerns about the potential risks associated with AI-powered warfare.
Despite the transition, the US government acknowledged in March that Anthropic’s Claude model was still being used in operations related to the conflict with Iran.
Musk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, merged xAI with his space exploration company, SpaceX, in February. SpaceX subsequently completed what was described as the largest initial public offering in history on June 12.
