It’s the latest in a string of deals that the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the agency responsible for technology procurement, has made with the top AI companies – Alphabet’s Google; the ChatGPT maker, OpenAI; and Anthropic — as part of its new initiative, the OneGov agreement. Each of these deals are short-term – to prevent one model dominating, the GSA said – but Grok’s is the longest, with an 18- month contract. On Sept. 22, the GSA announced that it would be working with Meta to get free access to its Llama models, while OpenAI and Anthropic agreed to provide their models for $1, and Google charged 47 cents.
Musk, according to the Wall Street Journal, picked 42 cents as a reference to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a science fiction novel.
It’s hard to calculate how much money Musk is saving the government by offering the model at only 42 cents a pop. xAI’s Grok 4 Fast is priced per output, and generally agencies might be on the hook for hefty API licencing fees.
“We really like the notion of having strong competition and market tension between these models and these companies,” Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. “When someone goes and updates their model with a cool feature, that only encourages the others to go do the same thing.”
Musk-Trump relationship
The deal could be a sign that the turbulent Musk-Trump relationship is in a period of thawing. After breaking with Trump in June over tariffs and spending — even calling for his impeachment — Musk has become one of the president’s most vocal critics. However, on Sunday, the two were spotted side by side at Charlie Kirk’s memorial in Arizona, shaking hands and chatting for the first time since their public split.
Now Musk is praising Trump’s leadership in official press releases, saying xAI looks forward to “rapidly deploying AI throughout the government.”
Whether this is a fragile truce or a genuine thaw, the timing is striking: Musk is still struggling to keep pace with rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic in the private market, but inside Washington, he just secured a coveted stamp of approval.
“MechaHitler” in the government?
Musk’s deal with Washington comes on the heels of embarrassing stumbles for Grok itself.