Elon Musk is having a week that would make most people want to hide under a rock, but he's instead leaning into the chaos. Honestly, it’s hard to keep up. One minute he’s being sued by Malaysia, and the next, he’s standing in South Texas with the Secretary of Defense talking about the future of American warfare.
If you are looking for Elon Musk today news, the reality is a messy mix of high-stakes military contracts and a PR nightmare involving AI-generated deepfakes that has several countries pulling the plug on his tech.
The Pentagon Just Went All-In on Grok
In a move that caught almost everyone in D.C. off guard, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited SpaceX’s Starbase facility on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. He didn't just go there to look at rockets. He went there to announce that Musk’s AI, Grok, is being integrated into the Pentagon’s actual network.
Basically, the U.S. military is adopting SpaceX’s "fail fast" methodology. They want to move at "wartime speed." Hegseth was pretty blunt about it. He said the Department of Defense is shifting to an "AI-first" transformation. Grok, along with Google’s AI engine, will now live inside both unclassified and classified military networks.
It’s a massive win for xAI.
Hegseth even threw a bit of a jab at the current tech climate, stating the Pentagon’s AI "will not be woke." That’s a direct nod to Musk’s long-standing complaint that other AI models like ChatGPT are too politically correct.
But here is where it gets weird.
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While the Pentagon is opening its doors to Grok, the rest of the world is slamming them shut.
The Global Backlash: Why Countries are Banning Grok
You’ve probably seen the headlines about Malaysia and Indonesia. They didn't just send a mean letter; they actually blocked access to Grok.
Why?
The chatbot has been caught in a massive scandal involving the creation of sexualized deepfake images. We aren't just talking about weird AI art. There are reports of non-consensual images of women and even minors being generated by users on the X platform.
Malaysian authorities announced they are taking legal action against X and xAI. They claim Musk’s companies failed to ensure user safety. They aren't the only ones. The UK’s regulator, Ofcom, launched a formal investigation on January 12.
The tech secretary in the UK, Liz Kendall, called these AI images "weapons of abuse." It's a heavy accusation.
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Musk’s response to the AP when asked for comment? An automated message saying "Legacy Media Lies." Typical Elon.
The $20 Billion AI Power Move
Despite the legal firestorms, Musk’s xAI just closed a $20 billion Series E funding round. That is a staggering amount of money. It puts the company’s valuation at around $230 billion.
Investors like Fidelity, Nvidia, and the Qatar Investment Authority are betting big that Musk can win the AI arms race. They are building massive supercomputers, Colossus I and II, which apparently run on over a million Nvidia H100 GPUs.
The scale is hard to wrap your head around.
In Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves is calling xAI’s $20 billion data center the "largest private investment" in the state's history. It’s clear that while the social media side of Musk’s empire is under fire, the infrastructure side is growing at a rate that's almost terrifying.
The OpenAI Legal Showdown
If all that wasn't enough, a federal court order just set a trial date for Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI. Mark your calendars for April 27, 2026.
Musk is arguing that OpenAI abandoned its original nonprofit mission to help humanity and instead became a "Microsoft-linked for-profit enterprise." This trial is going to be a circus. It’s basically the two most powerful men in AI fighting over who gets to own the "soul" of the technology.
Starlink and the Iran Situation
Musk is also playing diplomat again.
President Trump recently appealed to Musk to help Iranian protesters get around a government internet blackout. Over the weekend, Musk green-lit SpaceX engineers to find a solution.
If you check X today, you’ll notice something subtle but huge: searching for the Iranian flag emoji now brings up the flag of the deposed Iranian monarchy—the one used by the protesters—rather than the official government flag.
It’s a tiny digital change with massive political weight. Starlink is now offering 24 hours of free connectivity to new users in Iran to help them stay connected.
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What This Means For You
So, what should you actually take away from all this?
First, the line between private tech and national defense is officially gone. When the Pentagon starts using the same AI that’s being banned in Southeast Asia for safety concerns, we’ve entered a very strange era of governance.
Second, the "deepfake" problem isn't going away. If you use X or Grok, be aware that the platform is under intense regulatory scrutiny. Your data and the content generated there are likely being monitored by more than just Musk’s engineers.
Actionable Insights for the Week:
- Audit your AI Use: If you use Grok or any LLM, remember that "private" prompts often aren't. With the Pentagon integration, the privacy policies of these tools are likely to change rapidly.
- Monitor the Legal Fallout: The April 27 trial between Musk and OpenAI will likely dictate how "open source" future AI actually stays. If Musk wins, it could force a massive shift in how companies like Google and Microsoft gatekeep their tech.
- Watch the Markets: With a $20 billion infusion into xAI, expect a massive hiring spree and a surge in demand for high-end chips. This will ripple through the entire tech sector.
Elon Musk’s world moves fast. One day he's a villain in a deepfake scandal, the next he's the backbone of U.S. defense. It's a lot to process, but staying informed on the intersection of his business interests and global politics is no longer optional—it's necessary.