In early July, the Grok update went seriously wrong: Elon Musk's AI generated anti-Semitic remarks and presented itself as "Mecha-Hitler". Less than two weeks later, the company that developed Grok, xAI, signed a contract with the Pentagon worth $ 200 million.
Should we worry that unprotected AI will become the backbone of the US military?, asks the electronic publication The Conversation in its article.
Among the many chatbots on the market, one stands out for its claim to go beyond "political correctness": Grok. This generative AI, a subsidiary of Elon Musk, aims to outperform its competitors (such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot) while adopting an "anti-woke" approach, meaning it is free from "censorship" or overly strict moral rules.
In April 2023, the billionaire entrepreneur launched the "TruthGPT" project, aiming to create a "maximally truth-seeking AI that attempts to understand the nature of the universe" while offering an alternative to the "liberal bias" of the of ChatGPT.
It is worth noting that Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 before leaving in 2018 after failing to become its CEO, has since sought revenge on his rival Sam Altman, who became a superstar in the digital industry after the global success of ChatGPT.
Grok - a distorted mirror of its creator
Like its creator, Grok is designed to react with dark humor and a rebellious spirit, openly showing its disregard for social norms and taboos. The first problem arises with its tendency to spread fake news, especially through its integration with the social media platform X, also owned by Musk. Like other generative AIs, Grok suffers from biases, hallucinations, and inaccuracies.
But the lack of ethical and factual guidelines for offering a "censorship-free" chatbot can lead to deviant results, such as creating realistic depictions of Musk and Mickey Mouse killing children, or promoting the narrative of "white genocide" in South Africa. The idea of "anti-woke" artificial intelligence here leads to a spectacular amplification of disinformation in the name of free speech without any accountability.
When the far right flirts with high tech
The second problem arises in a political context where the richest man in the world, along with the entire Silicon Valley elite, is uniting behind the new administration of Donald Trump.
Musk's significant participation in Trump's presidential campaign, his support for the reactionary Dark MAGA ideology, his Nazi salute on January 20, 2025, and his support for the "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) party testify to his shift to the far right of the political spectrum.
Unhappy that his artificial intelligence is still too "woke" or that it borrows too much from traditional media, Musk announced the Grok 4 update in early July. But the robot quickly generated anti-Semitic, neo-Nazi, and conspiracy theories, calling itself "Mecha-Hitler" (the startup xAI later apologized). This is alarming, but hardly surprising: the creature often resembles its creator.
When technological power penetrates the state
A third problem arises when the interests of the private and public sectors converge to such an extent that one can speak of collusion or even corruption. It is no secret that Elon Musk was hired as a special officer of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to implement massive cuts in the federal administration, while his own private companies (Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink) have accumulated federal contracts worth over $2.37 billion.
The use of artificial intelligence and the "move fast and break things" approach to implementing DOGE-automated budget cuts have been described by some authors as an "AI-assisted coup d'état".
Ironically, Musk signed the open letter "Pause Giant AI Experiments" in March 2023, which was supported by hundreds of public figures around the world. At the time, the majority of research, industry, public and civic groups called for a moratorium on the development of generative artificial intelligence, given the numerous risks it posed: disinformation, surveillance, job losses, environmental impacts and even threats to democracy.
Should we allow machines to flood our news feeds with propaganda and lies? [...] These decisions should not be delegated to unelected technology leaders. "Powerful AI systems should only be developed when we are certain that their effects will be positive and the risks manageable", the signatories warn.
In 2025, the opposite scenario is emerging: AI massively disseminates false content, important decisions are entrusted to unelected individuals, and AI becomes a lever for economic, political, and military domination.
This great convergence between the Silicon Valley oligarchy and the populist "Make America Great Again" movement is sometimes called "technofascism". This is not just a conspiracy between Musk and Trump that quickly and spectacularly ended in June 2025 with an exchange of insults. This is a structural integration of algorithmic technologies into an authoritarian project.
This project aims to dismantle the rule of law and establish a police state inspired by Hungarian President Viktor Orbán and his "illiberal democracy".
From "Mecha-Hitler" to an assistant in the armed forces
The latest example of the integration of artificial intelligence in the service of techno-fascism is the contract signed in mid-July between xAI and the US Department of Defense.
The military wants to use Grok to provide "military support capabilities" and help "maintain a strategic advantage over their adversaries." Although Musk has officially left DOGE and broken with Trump, his self-proclaimed AI "Mecha-Hitler" will be directly connected to the military.
Add to this Trump's complete deregulation of the digital sector, the passage of the Big Beautiful Act, which blew up the budget of the immigration enforcement agency ICE, and the $500 billion "Stargate" project, and we find ourselves on the threshold of a new technofascist era.