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Musk’s AI chatbot Grok reportedly encouraged Trump to capture Venezuela’s president
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President Donald Trump secretly met Elon Musk in December 2025 and spent hours discussing Venezuela with Musk’s AI chatbot Grok, according to Time. The meeting came about a month before U.S. forces invaded Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro. Trump asked how Venezuelans might react to Maduro’s capture.
The meeting occurred seven months after Musk left the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. By September, Trump had ordered strikes on Venezuelan boats that he alleged were involved in drug trafficking. Those operations apparently prompted questions to Grok about the strikes and Venezuela’s political climate.
Grok reportedly told Trump that Maduro was a “deeply unpopular dictator” and that many Venezuelans would likely celebrate his downfall. Celebrations did follow the January 3 invasion and Maduro’s capture, after which Trump apparently considered Grok “ingenious.” The account suggests AI may have influenced a leader’s expectations before a military and political move.
The reported exchange highlights the Pentagon’s growing use of artificial intelligence. In June, the Pentagon’s head of AI said the military used Gov Grok to deploy and strike targets during the Iran War. Grok’s role extended beyond political advice into operational planning and targeting.
Grok is not the only model serving the Department of Defense. OpenAI also has a Pentagon agreement, while Anthropic has been debating how its models can support military intelligence and modern warfare. These arrangements illustrate continuing disagreement over the limits on AI in national security.
Under the Trump administration, Grok may become an even larger military favorite. Musk and Anduril’s Palmer Luckey were tapped to co-lead a study of how advanced technology is and can be used on battlefields. The review could shape future integration of AI into defense operations, while reliability, oversight and military utility remain concerns.
