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The Department of Defense used Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence bot Grok to launch more than 2,000 missiles during the war in Iran, according to a sworn declaration by Cameron Stanley, the Pentagon’s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer, that was filed in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Mississippi this week.
A specialized AI model designed for government use called Grok Gov “enabled U.S. forces to deploy over 2,000 munitions to 2,000 distinct targets within 96 hours,” Stanley said, before boasting about how decreasing human oversight of missile launches “greatly increased operational efficiency” in the conflict.
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The U.S. kicked off the conflict in late February with a salvo of more than 1,000 missiles in 24 hours, at least one of which struck an Iranian girls’ school in southern Iran that reportedly killed 150 students.
It’s unclear how, exactly, Grok was involved in the launches or selecting the targets.
The Defense Department awarded a $200 million contract to xAI last July, about a week after Grok went on a shocking antisemitic tear and called itself “MechaHitler.”
Stanley’s testimony was filed on behalf of xAI in a lawsuit brought by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People accusing the tech company of illegally operating 27 gas turbines without an air permit in Southaven, Mississippi, poisoning the air in a predominantly Black neighborhood.
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