US says xAI’s Grok was used in strikes against Iran

WASHINGTON: Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence tool Grok was used in strikes against Iran, according to a US government legal brief seen by AFP.

The June 15 filing was submitted in defence of gas turbines powering a large xAI data centre that is facing an environmental lawsuit. In the brief, the US Department of Justice said the case "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"

To support that position, federal prosecutors cited sworn testimony from Cameron Stanley, the Pentagon’s AI chief, saying Grok is already being used in Project Maven, the US military’s AI-assisted targeting programme. The programme had initially been powered by Anthropic’s Claude model.

Stanley’s statement said the project’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 "the greatly increased operational efficiency made possible by the Grok Gov Model"

Lawsuit over turbines

The lawsuit against xAI was brought by the NAACP, a civil rights organisation focused on defending the rights of Black Americans. It accuses the company of operating dozens of turbines without permits in breach of the Clean Air Act.

The group says the turbines are polluting majority-Black neighbourhoods. xAI, however, argues that the turbines are temporary and mobile and therefore fall outside the relevant regulatory requirements.

Shift from Anthropic

The US government ended its contracts with Anthropic at the end of February after the company refused to allow its tools to be used for fully automated strikes or for mass surveillance of Americans. The Pentagon then turned to rival firms including Google, OpenAI and xAI as it continued its push to adopt artificial intelligence.

That shift has also triggered internal and wider public criticism. At Google, more than 600 employees called on the company not to supply AI for classified military operations, while other critics have voiced broader concerns about the risks posed by the technology.

The US military’s move toward AI has been gradual, and that in March the government acknowledged Claude was still being used for the war in Iran. Musk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, folded xAI into SpaceX in February. SpaceX carried out the largest IPO in history on June 12.