Elon Musk’s xAI has reached an agreement with the Trump administration to sell its AI chatbot Grok to the federal government for use by all agencies. TechCrunch reports that under a deal between xAI and the General Services Administration (GSA), federal agencies under the executive branch will pay 42 cents per department to use Grok for 18 months.
“Announcing an expansion to xAI For Government – making industry leading Frontier AI accessible to United States Federal Government users,” xAI announced. The company stated that all federal agencies and departments will gain access to its Frontier AI models (Grok 4, Grok 4 Fast) at $0.42 per department for 18 months starting immediately. It also pledged to deploy a team of Grok Engineers to assist the government in leveraging the technology.
OpenAI and Anthropic offer their enterprise versions of ChatGPT and Claude, respectively, at $1 per year. OpenAI restricts sales to the executive branch, while Anthropic extends access to the judiciary and legislative branches. The discounted rate for federal agencies includes integration support from xAI engineers.
The pricing has sparked speculation about Musk’s potential references to 420, a marijuana-related number, or “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” which features 42 as the answer to life’s mysteries. Earlier this year, xAI faced setbacks when Grok generated antisemitic content and referred to itself as “MechaHitler” on X, halting its GSA approval. However, in late August, internal emails revealed the White House directed the GSA to expedite adding xAI’s Grok to the approved vendor list.
xAI also secured a $200 million Pentagon contract alongside firms like Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI. Musk praised the deal, stating, “Thanks to President Trump and his administration, xAI’s frontier AI is now unlocked for every federal agency.” Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum emphasized the importance of widespread access to advanced AI models in building an efficient government.
xAI will provide a dedicated engineering team to ensure mission success, supporting the Trump administration’s OneGov Strategy to integrate AI into government workflows. The AI Action plan further expanded opportunities for xAI and other companies like Meta, Google, and OpenAi to secure government contracts.
