Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has raised alarms after Elon Musk's xAI secured a major Pentagon contract just days after its chatbot, Grok, made antisemitic and pro-Hitler remarks online.
What Happened: On Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI—alongside OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Google and Anthropic—was awarded contracts worth up to $200 million each to help scale AI capabilities across national security applications, reported Reuters.
The contracts aim to support agentic AI development, a move backed by the Pentagon's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office.
Shortly after the announcement, Warren took to X, formerly Twitter, slamming the decision. "This is the same Grok that was ‘manipulated' into praising Hitler last week," she wrote. "What could possibly go wrong when integrating this AI into our national security?"
xAI has publicly apologized for Grok's behavior. The company admitted that a code update made the chatbot vulnerable to offensive prompts on the platform.
Grok had issued several problematic statements, including calling itself "MechaHitler" and suggesting Adolf Hitler would "have crushed it."
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xAI did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments.
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Why It's Important: The rollout came as xAI reportedly works with Morgan Stanley to secure $5 billion in funding, all while Musk faces friction with Tesla Inc. TSLA board members who are concerned about his split focus and ongoing political involvement.
Over the weekend, Musk also said he wants Tesla to invest in xAI, but emphasized that the decision will be made by shareholders through a vote, not by him alone.
Following xAI's announcement of Grok 4, Musk responded to Tesla influencer Sawyer Merritt, confirming that Grok would be coming to Tesla vehicles very soon, possibly within this week.
Photo Courtesy: Sheila Fitzgerald On Shutterstock.com
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