A lawsuit filed in a California federal court alleges that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, used decades-old images of a child sexual abuse survivor to create new abusive content through its Grok chatbot. The accusations raise significant ethical concerns regarding the use of sensitive images in AI training and content generation, highlighting potential risks associated with the technology’s capabilities.
The survivor is a victim who was first identified by the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the early 2000s and images of her abuse have circulated online for nearly two decades. Grok, the suit alleged, drew on that material to produce new imagery of her. SpaceX, the parent company of xAI, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The filing traces the allegations to a surge of Grok-generated sexual imagery that began in late December, after Musk asked the chatbot to depict him in a bikini.
The suit seeks damages under so-called Masha’s Law, a US statute allowing victims of federal child pornography offenses to recover at least $150,000 per violation, and asks the court to order the destruction of any illegal material the company holds. Citing research by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the complaint says Grok produced more than three million sexualized images in the 11 days to January 8, including over 23,000 that appeared to show children.
The AI-generated material depicting the plaintiff was identified by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, the suit said.
xAI initially responded by restricting image generation to paying subscribers rather than disabling the feature, the lawsuit alleges. The case is at least the second class action to accuse xAI over Grok-generated abuse material. A separate suit brought this year by three Tennessee teenagers has since been expanded to include additional plaintiffs and to name image-creator Stability AI as a defendant. xAI was acquired by Musk’s rocket company SpaceX in February. The plaintiff has demanded a jury trial. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
The complaint contrasts xAI’s approach with rivals including OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta, which largely block sexual image requests, and points to the company’s marketing of a “spicy mode” for its Grok video tool.
