FOIA Request Seeks OMB Records on Grok AI’s Use by the Federal Government
July 14, 2026
Office of Management and Budget
FOIA Requester Service Center
725 17th Street NW, Suite 9272
Washington, DC 20503
Via web portal
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request — Final OMB Determinations, Implementation Records, and Interagency Coordination Regarding xAI’s Grok
Dear Office of Management and Budget Freedom of Information Act officer:
On behalf of Public Citizen, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, I request copies of all final records created, received, or maintained by the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) from January 1, 2023, to the present, related to the artificial intelligence system known as Grok, developed by xAI, as follows:
- All final compliance determinations and completed reviews of Grok, including, but not limited to, those related to AI governance, privacy, cybersecurity, supply-chain or vendor risk assessments, civil rights, equity, and algorithmic impact.
- All memoranda, guidance, or other final documents related to federal agency use of Grok.
- All records reflecting OMB’s role in approving, authorizing, or clearing federal acquisition or deployment of Grok.
- All communications regarding Grok that transmit, memorialize, implement, or communicate final OMB decisions between OMB and:
- General Services Administration (GSA);
- Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP);
- Department of War (formerly Department of Defense);
- Department of Homeland Security, including CISA;
- Department of Energy, including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
- All communications between OMB and xAI (or its representatives, affiliates, or contractors) regarding the use or potential use of Grok by federal agencies or employees.
Please search all record systems reasonably likely to contain responsive federal records including but not limited to:
- Official email systems;
- Official calendars;
- Microsoft Teams
- Official text messaging systems;
- Archived messaging platforms used for official government business;
- Document management systems
- Electronic shared drives;
If it is your position that responsive records exist but that those records (or portions of those records) are exempt from disclosure, please identify the records that are being withheld and state the basis for the denial for each record being withheld. In addition, please note that Public Citizen seeks each record in its entirety. Accordingly, please provide all nonexempt portions of the records, without redacting portions of any record as “non-responsive,” “out of scope,” or the like.
I request that any records produced in response to this request be provided in electronic form wherever possible.
Fee Waiver Request
Public Citizen requests that all fees in connection with this FOIA request be waived in accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A)(iii) because Public Citizen does not seek the records for a commercial purpose and disclosure “is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government.” Disclosure of the requested records is likely to contribute significantly to the public’s understanding of the operations and activities of the federal government because the records concern the federal government’s approval, procurement, and deployment of one of the nation’s most prominent generative artificial intelligence systems for use across executive branch agencies.[1]
OMB plays a central role in establishing government-wide policy governing the acquisition, deployment, and oversight of artificial intelligence systems. The requested records will shed light on how OMB implemented those responsibilities with respect to Grok, including what final compliance determinations, completed reviews, procurement approvals, implementation requirements, and interagency coordination preceded the system’s deployment within the federal government. These records will help the public understand how the federal government evaluates emerging AI technologies before making them available for government use and what safeguards, if any, were ultimately adopted.
The requested records concern matters that have generated substantial public attention.[2] The federal government’s increasing adoption of generative artificial intelligence has been the subject of significant national news coverage, congressional oversight, and public debate because these systems may affect government decision-making, cybersecurity, privacy, procurement integrity, civil rights, and the delivery of government services.[3] News organizations have reported on the federal government’s efforts to expand access to commercial AI systems through government-wide acquisition vehicles, including agreements involving xAI’s Grok, reflecting widespread public interest in how these technologies are being evaluated and deployed across federal agencies.[4]
Disclosure is particularly important because OMB serves as the government’s central management and budget agency with responsibility for issuing government-wide AI governance policies and overseeing their implementation.[5] The requested records will enable the public to evaluate whether those policies were implemented as intended and how OMB exercised its oversight responsibilities with respect to one of the first frontier AI systems made available for broad federal use.
To Public Citizen’s knowledge, OMB has not publicly released the final compliance determinations, completed governance reviews, implementation guidance, procurement approvals, or other records requested herein. Although public reporting has described the existence of federal efforts to make Grok available to agencies, little information has been publicly disclosed regarding the official government records documenting OMB’s final actions, completed reviews, implementation requirements, or coordination with other federal agencies.[6] Disclosure through FOIA would therefore contribute significant new information that is not presently available to the public.
The requested records therefore concern identifiable government activities, are likely to contribute meaningfully to public understanding of those activities, and are not sought for any commercial purpose. Rather, Public Citizen seeks these records to inform policymakers, journalists, researchers, and the general public regarding the federal government’s implementation of AI governance policies and its oversight of emerging artificial intelligence technologies.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit research, litigation, and advocacy organization that represents the public interest before Congress, the executive branch, and the courts. Public Citizen has considerable expertise in the issues relevant to this records request—including Artificial Intelligence governance, technology policy, and government transparency. Public Citizen is a national leader in artificial intelligence policy, producing influential research on AI chatbots, corporate AI lobbying, autonomous weapons, and other emerging technologies. Its experts have testified before Congress and state legislatures while advising policymakers on AI governance, consumer protection, civil rights, and accountability.[7]
Public Citizen has a strong record of effectively conveying information to the public, including information obtained through Public Citizen’s use of FOIA, and Public Citizen intends to share the information received from this request with the public free of charge. Public Citizen distributes information through its website,[8] Facebook, [9] Bluesky,[10] and email listservs. It also maintains multiple blogs,[11] publishes a bi-monthly newspaper,[12] and issues frequent press releases.[13] Many of Public Citizen’s reports, petitions, or other research products grab headlines in major newspapers, broadcast media, social media, and academic journals.[14] Nearly every day, print and broadcast media around the world mention Public Citizen or quote its experts.[15] Public Citizen also makes its experts available to speak to the media, to speak at conferences, and to testify before Congress.
Accordingly, I request that you waive all fees for locating and duplicating the requested records because Public Citizen is entitled to a public interest fee waiver. If, however, a waiver is not granted, please advise me of the amount of any proposed search, review, and reproduction charges before you conduct those activities.
I expect a response within 20 working days as provided by law. If you have any questions regarding this request, please contact me by phone at (202) 454-5131 or by e-mail at jbranch@citizen.org.
Thank you very much for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
J.B. Branch
Director of Federal AI Governance and Technology Policy
On behalf of Public Citizen
[1] Reuters, Musk’s xAI to Provide Grok Chatbot to U.S. Federal Agencies, Reuters (Sept. 25, 2025), https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musks-xai-provide-grok-chatbot-us-federal-agencies-2025-09-25/
[2] Id.
[3] Konstantin Toropin & David Klepper, Pentagon Embraces Musk’s Grok AI Chatbot as It Draws Global Outcry, Associated Press (Jan. 13, 2026), https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/pentagon-embraces-musks-grok-ai-chatbot-as-it-draws-global-outcry; Dareen Toro, Grok Isn’t a Glitch—It Is a Regulatory Reckoning, RAND (Feb. 9, 2026), https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2026/02/grok-isnt-a-glitch-it-is-a-regulatory-reckoning.html; J.B. Branch, The Case for Suspending Grok’s Federal Deployment, Yale J. on Regul.: Notice & Comment (Jan. 23, 2026) https://www.yalejreg.com/nc/the-case-for-suspending-groks-federal-deployment-by-j-b-branch/
[4] Id.; Rebecca Heilweil & Madison Alder, Elon Musk’s Grok Is Now Working with the U.S. Government, FedScoop (July 14, 2025), https://fedscoop.com/elon-musk-grok-us-government-deal/
[5] U.S. Gen. Servs. Admin., GSA & xAI Partner to Accelerate Federal AI Adoption (Sept. 25, 2025), https://www.gsa.gov/about-gsa/newsroom/news-releases/gsa-xai-partner-to-accelerate-federal-ai-adoption-09252025
[6] Id.
[7] Rick Claypool, Chatbots Are Not People: Designed-In Dangers of Human-Like Anthropomorphic A.I. Systems, Public Citizen (Sept. 26, 2023), https://www.citizen.org/article/chatbots-are-not-people-dangerous-human-like-anthropomorphic-ai-report/; Robert Weissman & Savannah Wooten, A.I. Joe: The Dangers of Artificial Intelligence and the U.S. Military, Public Citizen (Feb. 29, 2024) https://www.citizen.org/article/ai-joe-report/; Public Citizen, Tracker: Legislation on Deepfakes in Elections, Public Citizen, https://www.citizen.org/article/tracker-legislation-on-deepfakes-in-elections/
[8] See https://www.citizen.org.
[9] See https://www.facebook.com/publiccitizen (Public Citizen’s Facebook page). Public Citizen’s Facebook page has more than 141,000 followers.
[10] See https://web-cdn.bsky.app/profile/did:plc:mt3o2cf5fqpyqbyalwkegzef (Public Citizen’s Bluesky page). Public Citizen’s Bluesky page has more than 66,000 followers.
[11] See, e.g., Public Citizen: Consumer Law & Policy Blog, https://clpblog.citizen.org.
[12] See, e.g., Public Citizen News, November/December 2025, https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/Nov-PC-News-2025-final.pdf .
[13] See Public Citizen, Press Releases, https://www.citizen.org/news/type/press/.
[14] See, e.g., Mikella Schuettler, White-Collar Enforcement Sinks Under Trump, Group Says, Bloomberg (Jan. 15, 2026), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-15/white-collar-enforcement-sinks-under-trump-public-citizen-says?embedded-checkout=true; Jacob Gardenswartz, Trump promised to ‘drill, baby, drill.’ But Americans’ gas costs are up, new report finds, Scripps News (Dec. 16, 2025), https://www.scrippsnews.com/politics/trump-promised-to-drill-baby-drill-but-americans-gas-costs-are-up-new-report-finds; Jonathan Edwards, Report: Donors to Trump’s White House ballroom have $279B in federal contracts, Wash. Post (Nov. 3, 2025), https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/11/03/trump-ballroom-donors-contracts-enforcement/; More than 40 Trump administration picks tied directly to oil, gas and coal, analysis shows, The Guardian (Oct. 9, 2025), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/08/trump-administration-fossil-fuels-climate.
[15] See, e.g., In the News, Public Citizen, https://www.citizen.org/news/type/in-the-news/.