Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins/Futurism. Source: Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
In December, Elon Musk’s favorite chatbot Grok made headlines for casually distributing the private addresses and phone numbers of everyday people, easily scraping data from public sources while other AI models refused. Now, the same model is being welcomed in a much more sensitive area.
This week, the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Grok will be integrated into the Pentagon’s classified systems later this month as part of a broader, department-wide initiative to weaponize AI.
during a Speech given to SpaceX employees At the company’s facility in Brownsville, Texas, Hegseth said he envisions a military AI that would work “without the ideological barriers that limit legitimate military applications.” The Pentagon’s AI “will not be woken up,” he said.
“We won’t win the future by sprinkling AI on old tactics like digital pixie dust,” Hegseth said. “We will win by inventing entirely new ways to fight. That’s why we will run sustained experimentation campaigns, quarterly force-on-force battle labs with AI coordinated swarms, agent-based cyber defense, and distributed command and control.”
In addition to the Groke integration, Hegseth announced the creation of a new role of “Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer” within the Department of Defense, to be filled by Cameron Stanley. Stanley was most recently head of national security transformation at Amazon Web Services, a role he started after a long career As a science and technology advisor at the Pentagon.
Musk’s Grok could be the perfect conceptual match for Hegseth’s vision for the Pentagon in the future. Engineered by Musk unrestricted option To “wake up” AI bots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Grok has already demonstrated a shocking willingness to provide detailed instructions for unethical or. illegal activities.
This alignment becomes apparent in light of the Pentagon’s recent operations, some of which are considered illegal. international Law. Under Hegseth, DoD has carried out numerous brutal attacks against sovereign nations – including a brutal attack on assassination campaign against venezuela burning of nigerian villages Under the pretext of counter-terrorism, and at least under the projection 134 air strikes on SomaliaWhich has killed a large number of civilians and terrorists alike.
A tool like Grok would be particularly useful in this context. Although other AI models have their own ethics and security issues, a futurism Survey of chatbots including chatgptMicrosoft’s co-pilot And grok It was found that only the latter was willing to provide operational suggestions for a “hypothetical invasion of Greenland”. The rest refused, citing international law and other ethical issues.
In choosing the Grok, Hegseth has selected the instrument of war that best reflects his own darkest impulses – one that will reflect every air attack without remorse.
As if the moral rot wasn’t already deep enough, the Grok initiative comes just weeks after Republican Congresswoman Lisa McClain’s husband bought somewhere between $100,001 and $250,000 in XAI stock – the company behind Grok. stock purchase, reported by mudThis came just days after McClain met with Trump for a December 3 White House event, and is another questionable stain on the administration’s track record. Insider information.
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