A legal battle has erupted between the mother of one of Elon Musk's children and his artificial intelligence company, xAI. Ashley St. Clair is suing the firm, alleging its Grok chatbot was used to create sexually exploitative deepfake images of her that have spread across the internet.
Details of the Lawsuit and Alleged Harms
In a lawsuit filed on Thursday, 15 January 2026, in New York City, Ashley St. Clair, a 27-year-old writer and political strategist, makes serious claims against xAI. She states that the Grok AI system allowed users to generate digitally altered, sexually explicit images of her. These included a manipulated photo of her at age 14, originally fully dressed, altered to show her in a bikini. Other images portrayed her as an adult in sexualised positions and wearing a bikini adorned with swastikas. St. Clair, who is Jewish, described the experience as humiliating and a source of ongoing emotional distress.
St. Clair claims she reported the deepfakes to X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk where Grok is integrated, after they began appearing last year. She says the platform initially responded that the images did not violate its policies. It later promised not to allow images of her to be used or altered without her consent. However, St. Clair alleges the platform then retaliated by removing her premium subscription and verification checkmark, blocking her ability to monetise her account with 1 million followers, and continuing to permit the circulation of degrading fake images.
Legal Manoeuvres and Company Response
The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, seeks an undisclosed amount in damages for the alleged infliction of emotional distress. It also requests court orders to immediately bar xAI from permitting the creation of further deepfakes of St. Clair. St. Clair is the mother of Musk's 16-month-old son, Romulus, and resides in New York City.
The legal proceedings escalated rapidly. Later on Thursday, lawyers for xAI moved the case to federal court in Manhattan. On the same day, xAI filed a countersuit against St. Clair in the federal court for the Northern District of Texas. The countersuit alleges she violated the terms of her xAI user agreement, which requires any lawsuits against the company to be filed in federal court in Texas. xAI is seeking an undisclosed monetary judgment against her. X is based in Texas, where Musk has a home and where Tesla is headquartered.
Carrie Goldberg, St. Clair's lawyer, called the countersuit a "jolting" tactical move. She stated her client would vigorously defend her chosen legal forum in New York, asserting that any jurisdiction should recognise the core of her claims: that by enabling the creation of non-consensual explicit imagery, xAI is a public nuisance and an unreasonably dangerous product.
Broader Context and Platform Policy Changes
This lawsuit arrives amidst significant global backlash concerning AI-generated sexualised imagery of women and children. In a related development, on Wednesday 14 January, X announced it was implementing new safeguards on Grok. These included limiting image creation and editing to paid accounts to improve accountability, and blocking the AI from editing photos to portray real people in revealing clothing where such acts are illegal.
The platform stated it has zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity, and unwanted sexual content. It pledged to remove such material immediately and report accounts involved in child sex abuse materials to law enforcement. Lawyers and media contacts for xAI did not immediately return requests for comment on Friday following the filing of St. Clair's lawsuit.
