The US government revealed Elon Musk’s AI tool, Grok, was utilized in military strikes against Iran, as disclosed in a legal filing defending xAI’s data center operations. The Department of Justice argued halting power to the data center would harm national security by impeding AI innovation supporting military operations. Pentagon AI chief Cameron Stanley testified Grok, through Project Maven, facilitated the deployment of over 2,000 munitions against 2,000 targets in 96 hours during “Operation Epic Fury.” This followed the termination of contracts with Anthropic, who refused to allow fully automated strikes. The NAACP is suing xAI, alleging environmental violations and disproportionate pollution in Black communities due to the data center’s turbines. xAI maintains the turbines are temporary and exempt from certain regulations. The Pentagon sought alternative AI providers, including Google and OpenAI, after the Anthropic contract ended, facing internal employee opposition at Google.