Trump Reportedly Consulted Grok Before U.S. Capture of Venezuela’s Maduro

President Donald Trump reportedly spent hours using Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot during a private December 2025 meeting, including asking how Venezuelans might react if the U.S. captured President Nicolás Maduro.

According to TIME, which cited an official present at the meeting, Grok described Maduro as deeply unpopular and predicted many Venezuelans would celebrate his removal. The meeting came months after Musk left his role in Trump’s administration.

Trump had previously ordered strikes against boats near Venezuela that his administration linked to drug trafficking, actions that later faced international scrutiny. Grok was also fielding public questions about Venezuela during the period.

After the January 3 operation that captured Maduro, some Venezuelans and diaspora members celebrated. TIME reported that Trump subsequently viewed Grok more favourably. No public transcript shows how much influence the chatbot had on the decision.

AI expands into military use

The episode comes as AI models play a growing role in national security. The Pentagon has said Gov Grok was used during Iran operations, while OpenAI has outlined its own military agreement and safeguards.

Anthropic has also clashed with the administration over military restrictions on Claude, and a court allowed the government to exclude the company from certain work. Another report alleged Houthi-linked actors used Claude for missile-related work.