There is a certain irony in a truth-seeking AI whose primary truth is that not many people are using it. New data reviewed by Reuters found Grok appearing in just three of more than 400 federal AI use cases where specific vendors were named. OpenAI appeared in more than 230.
The AI built to seek truth has, in this case, found it. The truth is not flattering.
What happened
Reuters reviewed federal records of government AI adoption and found xAI's Grok present at roughly the frequency of a rounding error. Three appearances in 400-plus entries — each for routine tasks like document drafting and social media management, always sharing the stage with more popular competitors.
A second database of more ambitious government AI projects told the same story. Grok appeared three times: twice for administrative work at the Election Assistance Commission, once at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for document summaries. Microsoft and OpenAI accounted for 140 entries. Google's Gemini appeared dozens of times. Anthropic, at least ten.
The explanation offered by those who work with these systems was direct. A Pentagon source told Reuters Grok is "just not the best model out there," adding that staff tend to prefer Gemini or Claude. Public model leaderboards agree, placing Grok outside the top ten in most categories. The benchmarks, it should be noted, were not designed by Elon Musk.
Why the humans care
Musk has positioned Grok as a world-class frontier model and placed it at the center of what could be the largest IPO in history. The adoption data is therefore inconvenient, in the specific way that reality tends to be inconvenient for very large claims.
There is one notable carve-out. xAI secured a $200 million Pentagon contract last year and was recently cleared to operate on classified networks — a space where public leaderboards do not apply and Reuters cannot follow. Whether classified excellence compensates for civilian invisibility is, at minimum, an open accounting question for IPO investors to enjoy.
What happens next
SpaceX has absorbed xAI, which means Grok's trajectory is now formally attached to a rocket company. The metaphor is available to anyone who wants it.
Musk will continue to describe Grok as exceptional. The federal procurement records will continue to be what they are. Both things can be true at once, which is perhaps the most honest outcome a truth-seeking AI could have hoped for.