An Energy Department-run national lab is piloting xAI’s Grok

The Department of Energy is piloting Grok, the generative AI tool from Elon Musk’s xAI, within its Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, according to the agency’s AI use case inventory. The pilot began at the end of June 2025 and has been used to find general answers to questions, summarize information and create documents. 

The Grok pilot comes at a time when the Energy Department is pursuing ambitious AI goals as part of its role in leading the Trump administration’s Genesis Mission. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has repeatedly characterized the AI effort as “the Manhattan Project of our time.” 

Grok has been a controversial addition to the federal government’s workflows since the start, following its posting of racist and antisemitic comments last July. A group of more than 30 advocacy organizations called on the Office of Management and Budget to prohibit the use of Grok across the federal government just a month after xAI launched “Grok for Government” last summer. 

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