Three teenage girls, two of whom are minors, have filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, alleging that its Grok image generator produced and distributed child sexual abuse material (CSAM) using their photos. The class-action suit, filed in California where xAI is headquartered, is the first brought by minors following Grok's widespread generation of non-consensual nude images earlier this year.
According to the complaint, the girls discovered that AI-altered nude images of them had been uploaded to a Discord server and circulated online without their knowledge. One plaintiff, referred to as Jane Doe 1, received an Instagram message in December alerting her to deepfake videos and images depicting her and classmates from her high school in sexualised positions, including a photo from a homecoming celebration. Police arrested a suspect and found CSAM on his phone allegedly produced using xAI's technology.
The lawsuit alleges that the CSAM was created via a third-party app that licensed and relied on Grok's AI. Lawyers argue that xAI profits from licensing its technology to such apps and is liable for failing to prevent misuse. At the peak of the scandal, researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate estimated Grok generated about 3 million sexualised images in under two weeks, including 23,000 depicting children.
Musk has previously denied that Grok produced any underage images, stating in January he was 'not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero.' He also claimed that Grok would not generate illegal content. xAI did not respond to requests for comment.
The plaintiffs seek damages for reputational and mental health harm. The mother of one girl described witnessing her daughter's panic attack upon realising the images could not be recalled. The suit joins other legal actions and EU investigations into xAI over non-consensual sexualised images.
