Warren Presses Pentagon on AI Contract Fairness Amid Grok Concerns 

As federal interest in Musk’s Grok increases, Senator Warren wants the Pentagon to focus on fair competition and strong data protection among AI developers. 

United States: Democrat Elizabeth Warren has written to the Department of Defense, urging it to maintain fair competition in the field of AI contracts, as Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok has caught the attention of federal officials, Reuters reported on Wednesday. 

After last week’s Reuters article revealed that Musk’s DOGE team might be using Grok on data related to millions of Americans and violating conflict of interest rules, Warren wrote the open letter. 

Open Letter Demands Safeguards 

“I seek to ensure that the DoD’s procurement decisions encourage competition and avoid consolidation that can lead to higher prices, concentration of risk, and the stifling of innovation,” Warren, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote in the letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday. 

🤖💼 Warren Presses Pentagon Over Musk’s AI Role, Urges Competitive Bidding

Senator Warren warned Grok's rising use in defense could violate laws and stifle innovation, urging safeguards and open AI contracting.

She demanded answers by June 9 on how DoD avoids vendor lock-in… pic.twitter.com/OONVA3Cd7D

— PiQ (@PiQSuite) May 28, 2025

On June 9, Warren expected the Pentagon to respond regarding its purchases of AI, including how it will prevent reliance on a single vendor and how it secures the collection of data. 

“How does DoD plan to ensure government data is not used to illegally train commercially available AI algorithms?” Warren wrote. 

The Pentagon said they would not comment on the case at the time. 

Background: Concerns Over Grok and xAI 

No mention of either Grok or OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude was contained in the letter. 

According to Reuters, Hegseth met Musk and members of the xAI team at the Pentagon on May 21, making it the second time Hegseth has been to the department’s main building in that role. 

In April, the Office of Management and Budget at the White House released guidelines telling federal agencies to support an American AI marketplace that benefits the public. Still, national security and defense were excluded from the guidance. 

AI Policy in the Spotlight 

Recently, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Missouri Republican Eric Schmitt, also a member of the Armed Services Committee, brought back a bill to increase the use of AI across the Defense Department. 

The Department of Defense received more than half of the federal government’s contracting money in fiscal year 2023, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.