Warren demands Hegseth detail xAI's access to classified networks

Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding he detail the Pentagon’s reported decision to give xAI access to classified networks.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday demanding information about the Pentagon’s reported decision to give Elon Musk’s xAI access to classified networks.

In the letter, Warren raised concerns that xAI and its AI-powered chatbot, Grok, could present critical safety and reliability risks to America’s military. Warren cited the possibility that Grok could leak classified information to adversaries, be manipulated based on biased or inaccurate data, or lack critical safety controls and put service members in danger.

“I am concerned that Grok’s apparent lack of adequate guardrails could pose serious risks to the safety of U.S. military personnel and to the cybersecurity of classified systems,” Warren wrote in the letter, seen by NBC News, “especially if Grok is given sensitive military information and access to operational systems.”

“It is unclear what assurances or documentation xAI has provided to the Department of Defense about Grok’s security safeguards, data-handling practices, or safety controls, and whether DoD has evaluated those assurances before reportedly allowing Grok access to classified systems,” Warren wrote.

In late February, the Pentagon and xAI reached a deal that would pave the way for xAI’s systems to be used on classified networks, according to Axios, citing an anonymous Defense Department official. The announcement came in the middle of the Pentagon’s rupture with rival AI company Anthropic, which had insisted on stronger guarantees that the Pentagon would not use its AI systems for domestic surveillance or direct use in deadly weapons.