By Jurgita Lapienytė, Editor-in-Chief at Cybernews
The Pentagon is adopting Elon Musk’s GrokAI chatbot, and it creates real risks. One of them is humans blindly following its flawed advice into disaster, not robots rebelling.
However, the Pentagon integrating Grok still carries real risks, just to mention a few.
Every new AI access point plugged into defence networks is another door for attackers to try to trick, poison or break.
Note that xAI’s safety team is small compared to its competitors, meaning there are simply fewer resources to deal with the immense attack perimeter that every AI application represents these days.
Now, imagine officials feeding Grok military information for analysis. What might seem like a way to make processes more effective at first might turn into a cybersecurity nightmare. Statesmen should be trained on how to handle sensitive information and digital tools, but after the Signal scandal, when the Trump administration accidentally texted a journalist its war plans, we aren’t that naive anymore, are we?
Threat actors, including nation-state hackers, knowing that the Pentagon is actively using Grok, might be only more eager to break it via hacks, prompt injections, or supply chain flaws. It might be turned into a giant surveillance tool of the Pentagon.
What is more, Grok, as many other large language models (LLMs), can produce factually incorrect answers with confidence. The tool has already produced hateful and plainly wrong replies in public, spewing out racist content, promoting posts glorifying Hitler, let alone the undressing scandal with minors allegedly involved.
Is that really the tool that can be trusted by the Pentagon? At least the way it works now?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jurgita Lapienytė is the Editor-in-Chief at Cybernews, where she leads a team of journalists and security experts dedicated to uncovering cyber threats through research, testing, and data-driven reporting. With a career spanning over 15 years, she has reported on major global events, including the 2008 financial crisis and the 2015 Paris terror attacks, and has driven transparency through investigative journalism. A passionate advocate for cybersecurity awareness and women in tech, Jurgita has interviewed leading cybersecurity figures and amplifies underrepresented voices in the industry. Recognized as the Cybersecurity Journalist of the Year and featured in Top Cyber News Magazine’s 40 Under 40 in Cybersecurity, she is a thought leader shaping the conversation around cybersecurity. Jurgita has been quoted internationally – by Metro UK, The Epoch Times, Extra Bladet, Computer Bild, and more. Her team reports on proprietary research highlighted in such outlets as the BBC, Forbes, TechRadar, Daily Mail, Fox News, Yahoo, and much more.
ABOUT CYBERNEWS
Cybernews is a globally recognized independent media outlet where journalists and security experts debunk cyber by research, testing, and data. Founded in 2019 in response to rising concerns about online security, the site covers breaking news, conducts original investigations, and offers unique perspectives on the evolving digital security landscape. Through white-hat investigative techniques, Cybernews research team identifies and safely discloses cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities, while the editorial team provides cybersecurity-related news, analysis, and opinions by industry insiders with complete independence.
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This entry was posted on January 26, 2026 at 11:33 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Cybernews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Guest Post – The Pentagon’s Grok Problem: When AI Confidently Gets It Wrong
By Jurgita Lapienytė, Editor-in-Chief at Cybernews
The Pentagon is adopting Elon Musk’s GrokAI chatbot, and it creates real risks. One of them is humans blindly following its flawed advice into disaster, not robots rebelling.
However, the Pentagon integrating Grok still carries real risks, just to mention a few.
Every new AI access point plugged into defence networks is another door for attackers to try to trick, poison or break.
Note that xAI’s safety team is small compared to its competitors, meaning there are simply fewer resources to deal with the immense attack perimeter that every AI application represents these days.
Now, imagine officials feeding Grok military information for analysis. What might seem like a way to make processes more effective at first might turn into a cybersecurity nightmare. Statesmen should be trained on how to handle sensitive information and digital tools, but after the Signal scandal, when the Trump administration accidentally texted a journalist its war plans, we aren’t that naive anymore, are we?
Threat actors, including nation-state hackers, knowing that the Pentagon is actively using Grok, might be only more eager to break it via hacks, prompt injections, or supply chain flaws. It might be turned into a giant surveillance tool of the Pentagon.
What is more, Grok, as many other large language models (LLMs), can produce factually incorrect answers with confidence. The tool has already produced hateful and plainly wrong replies in public, spewing out racist content, promoting posts glorifying Hitler, let alone the undressing scandal with minors allegedly involved.
Is that really the tool that can be trusted by the Pentagon? At least the way it works now?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jurgita Lapienytė is the Editor-in-Chief at Cybernews, where she leads a team of journalists and security experts dedicated to uncovering cyber threats through research, testing, and data-driven reporting. With a career spanning over 15 years, she has reported on major global events, including the 2008 financial crisis and the 2015 Paris terror attacks, and has driven transparency through investigative journalism. A passionate advocate for cybersecurity awareness and women in tech, Jurgita has interviewed leading cybersecurity figures and amplifies underrepresented voices in the industry. Recognized as the Cybersecurity Journalist of the Year and featured in Top Cyber News Magazine’s 40 Under 40 in Cybersecurity, she is a thought leader shaping the conversation around cybersecurity. Jurgita has been quoted internationally – by Metro UK, The Epoch Times, Extra Bladet, Computer Bild, and more. Her team reports on proprietary research highlighted in such outlets as the BBC, Forbes, TechRadar, Daily Mail, Fox News, Yahoo, and much more.
ABOUT CYBERNEWS
Cybernews is a globally recognized independent media outlet where journalists and security experts debunk cyber by research, testing, and data. Founded in 2019 in response to rising concerns about online security, the site covers breaking news, conducts original investigations, and offers unique perspectives on the evolving digital security landscape. Through white-hat investigative techniques, Cybernews research team identifies and safely discloses cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities, while the editorial team provides cybersecurity-related news, analysis, and opinions by industry insiders with complete independence.
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This entry was posted on January 26, 2026 at 11:33 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Cybernews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.