Musk’s xAI and OpenAI Are Now Defense Contractors and Weapons Vendors...

by Jon Fleetwood at Modernity

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, is now building military technology for the U.S. government under a Pentagon contract worth up to $200 million.

The billionaire’s bombshell résumé enhancement follows criticisms of his leadership over the federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where Palantir alumni under his watch helped steer a CIA-funded surveillance firm into the center of a sweeping plan to consolidate federal data on Americans.

“Today, the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) announced contract awards to leading U.S. frontier AI companies to accelerate Department of Defense (DoD) adoption of advanced AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges,” the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) said in a Monday press release. “Frontier AI companies lead development of the most advanced AI models and technologies, conduct insightful research into the use of frontier AI, and pioneer efforts to address both the potential benefits and risks of frontier AI technologies.”

That includes Musk’s ‘Grok’ chatbot, which will now be deployed across the U.S. military’s digital infrastructure to support battlefield, intelligence, and enterprise operations.

Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI—alongside xAI—are now officially U.S. defense contractors, each awarded a $200 million ceiling contract to help the Pentagon “broaden DoD use of and experience in frontier AI capabilities” across military mission areas.