President Donald Trump consulted Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok before deposing Venezuela’s president, according to a report.
Days into 2026, the U.S. Military captured then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in an operation carried out in the South American petrostate’s capital, Caracas.
In the lead-up to the dramatic extraction, the Trump administration had been launching strikes on vessels allegedly smuggling drugs to the United States from Venezuela.
Trump held a meeting with Musk the month before Maduro was captured and “spent hours” asking Grok about his presidency and his legacy, an official in attendance told TIME.
One of the president’s questions was how the people of Venezuela would react if Maduro was deposed, the unnamed official said.
The A.I. tool told the president the Venezuelan people would likely celebrate the overthrowing of Maduro since he was an unpopular dictator, it is claimed.
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
Trump gave the go-ahead for U.S. air strikes in Venezuela January 2, after months of planning for an operation dubbed ‘Absolute Resolve’.
The two-and-a half hour operation to extract Maduro was a major endeavor involving bombers, fighters and helicopters. Cuba said 32 of its citizens were killed during the operation, falling “after fierce resistance, in direct combat against the attackers or as a result of bombardments of installations”.
Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were hauled out of the capital on January 3 and moved to an assault ship in the Caribbean, passing through Guantanamo Bay before flying on to New York.
Celebrations did in fact break out in some Venezuelan diasporic communities in the aftermath of Maduro’s abduction. The deposed president now faces charges including narcoterrorism and conspiracy to transport cocaine to the United States. Maduro has denied all matters against him and is due to stand trial next June.
Upon seeing the positive reaction, Trump was said to be extremely impressed with the Grok chatbot given it’s opinion just weeks before, officials told TIME.
Despite Musk and Trump’s reported feud in the first year of the president’s second term, Grok has continued to play a role in Trump’s presidency.
The newly unveiled America.gov chatbot, which gives Americans information about the federal government, is powered in part by Grok, as well as Google’s Gemini.
The president has been unabashedly clear about his support for the continued development of A.I., even signing an executive order for it to be renamed to “super intelligence.”
Aides told TIME that Trump was dismissive of concerns about the technology.
When shown surveys from pollster Tony Fabrizio showing Americans feared the economic consequences of a potentially rogue technology, “Trump really didn’t seem to care”, an unnamed aide told the magazine.
“He wants to do what he wants to do,” the aide said. “He’s used to generating outrage and then watching everyone eventually crawl back to him. It’s hard to convince him to do anything at this point.”
The still-developing technology has nevertheless proven unpopular with voters, with a POLITICO poll finding that the majority of those surveyed believe that there is at least some risk that A.I. will destroy humanity. Almost 17 percent of respondents said that was almost certain to happen.
Trump however, continues to be clear in his view, recently posting on Truth Social: “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so.”
