The US Department of Defense has cleared Elon Musk’s xAI’s Grok to operate within classified military networks, Axios reported.
Classified networks support some of the Pentagon’s most sensitive missions, including intelligence analysis, weapons development, operational planning, and battlefield decision-making.
The agreement supports the department’s January 2026 AI strategy to build an “AI-first” force and highlights ongoing disputes with AI developers over permissible military uses of generative AI systems.
Until now, Anthropic’s Claude was the only AI model cleared for classified systems, but tensions arose after the company refused to lift safeguards on surveillance and autonomous weapons applications.
Defense officials have warned Anthropic that it could be deemed a “supply-chain risk” if restrictions are not eased, underscoring how AI providers have become central to defense infrastructure.
xAI’s Grok, alongside Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are already used in unclassified military systems, while negotiations continue to expand access to classified networks.
The company had previously signaled plans to deploy its models in classified and restricted environments under its “xAI for Government” initiative.
