Trump's secret AI chatbot encounter and its military implications

In December 2025, President Donald Trump met with Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok, shortly before the U.S. invasion of Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. This meeting occurred about a month before the invasion and seven months after Musk left the Trump administration. During the meeting, Trump reportedly spent hours discussing the potential public reaction to Maduro's capture, with Grok suggesting that many Venezuelans would celebrate his downfall. The U.S. invasion took place on January 3, 2026, and Trump reportedly praised Grok's insights. Recently, the Pentagon's head of AI confirmed that Grok was used in the Iran War for target deployment. While Grok is not the only AI model used by the DoD, it may gain more prominence under the current administration, with Musk and Anduril’s Palmer Luckey set to co-lead a study on advanced battlefield technology.