'Innovation From Anywhere': Pentagon Wants Elon Musk's Grok AI In The War Room

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon will integrate Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok AI in its operational network, alongside Google’s generative AI engine.

The integration is part of a broader push to update developing technology with as much military data as possible. "We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose", Hegseth said while speaking at Musk’s space flight company, SpaceX, in South Texas.

AI systems will operate "without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications", he said, while adding that the Pentagon’s "AI will not be woke."

Musk, who launched Grok in 2023, had pitched it as an alternative to the "woke" AI platforms being developed by rivals such as Google and OpenAI.

Further, Hegseth stressed that any AI model that disallow wars will not be taken seriously, and that AI systems within the Pentagon will be responsible.

According to the Defence Secretary, Pentagon has combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations, and AI is only as good as the data that it receives.

The announcement by Hegseth comes even after Grok recently found itself knee-deep in controversy for generating highly sexualised deepfake images of people without their consent.

The controversy resulted in a global outcry and led to the AI chatbot being banned in Malaysia and Indonesia. UK's independent online safety watchdog too has said that it will launch a probe into Grok.