The U.S. Secretary of Defense announced the adoption of Elon Musk's chatbot "Grok" within the Pentagon network, aiming to use 20 years of combat operation data to enhance military capabilities. He emphasized the need for AI that has "no ideological constraints" and is "not sugarcoated," amid worldwide opposition due to deepfake pornography and provocative content.
Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of Defense, stated at the SpaceX office in Texas that Elon Musk's Grok chatbot will be used alongside Google's AI systems within the Department of Defense, or Pentagon, networks. He said, "Soon, we will have the world's leading AI models operating across all networks, both unclassified and top secret."
Hegseth plans to launch the Grok system by the end of this month and will allow the AI to access "all appropriate data" from military IT systems, including databases from filtering units, aiming to maximize capability.
This announcement comes just days after Grok, embedded in the X platform, faced severe global criticism for being used to create unauthorized deepfake nude images of individuals. Malaysia and Indonesia have suspended access to Grok, while the UK's online safety watchdog has launched an immediate investigation. Previously, in July, Grok was criticized for expressing views supporting anti-Semitic ideas and praising Adolf Hitler.
Hegseth's stance reflects a clear policy shift from the Biden administration era, which had carefully framed AI use to prevent civil rights violations and dangerous autonomous weapon applications.
However, the U.S. Secretary of Defense stressed his desire for AI that operates "without ideological constraints that block lawful military use" and declared, "Pentagon AI must not be sugarcoated," to ensure the tool is truly ready for warfare without being hindered by ethical rules that could reduce combat effectiveness.
Hegseth noted the Pentagon's significant advantage due to verified battlefield operations and intelligence data accumulated over two decades, which will be fed into the AI system to create a strategic edge over competitors.
So far, the Pentagon has not directly addressed ethical and security concerns surrounding Grok, which remain a hot topic internationally.
/sourceAP