Elon Musk’s xAI has signed a deal with the General Services Administration (GSA) to allow the integration of its Grok artificial intelligence chatbot with federal agencies.
“xAI has the most powerful AI compute and most capable AI models in the world,” Musk, CEO of xAI, told Fox News Digital.
“Thanks to President Trump and his administration, xAI’s frontier AI is now unlocked for every federal agency empowering the U.S. Government to innovate faster and accomplish its mission more effectively than ever before. We look forward to continuing to work with President Trump and his team to rapidly deploy AI throughout the government for the benefit of the country.”
Newsweek reached out to xAI for comment via email Thursday morning.
Why It Matters
While the move has the potential to unlock a range of technological and efficiency advantages for federal agencies, it will likely fuel concerns among billionaire Musk’s Democratic opponents about his influence in the government.
Until a recent falling out, Musk was one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent and vocal supporters, spearheading DOGE, the department dedicated to slashing federal spending.
What To Know
The GSA said Thursday that partnering with xAI would help to streamline federal workflows, something Musk was vocal about during his tenure within the Trump administration, and help the U.S. remain competitive globally by embracing AI tools.
Federal agencies will now have access to Grok 4 and Grok 4 Fast, two of xAI’s products, through March 2027. The idea is that these tools will help to create a more transparent and efficient government, GSA said.
The partnership is the latest between the Trump administration and big tech, with Meta and Microsoft also joining forces with GSA to allow their AI tools for use by federal workers earlier this week.
In early September, Trump also announced that the federal government would own a share of Intel, sparking concerns among those in his own party.
Federal-private partnerships are also nothing new, with various departments choosing to contract work out to larger companies, or striking deals for software and equipment.
xAI said that the partnership, known as “Grok for Government,” would deliver the tools at $0.42 per agency for 18 months.
What People Are Saying
Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum, in a press release shared with Newsweek: “Widespread access to advanced AI models is essential to building the efficient, accountable government that taxpayers deserve—and to fulfilling President Trump’s promise that America will win the global AI race. We value xAI for partnering with GSA—and dedicating engineers—to accelerate the adoption of Grok to transform government operations.”
xAI co-founder Ross Nordeen, in a GSA press release: “We will work hand in glove with the entire government to not only deploy AI, but to deeply understand the needs of our government to make America the world leader in advanced use of AI.”
What Happens Next
Given GSA’s September announcements, more partnerships could be coming in the future, as the Trump administration seeks to honor the president’s plan to embrace AI as a core tool in bringing about a more efficient federal government.
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