Ashley St Clair has filed a lawsuit against xAI, alleging the company’s Grok AI tool generated sexually explicit deepfakes of her on the social media platform X, while xAI has responded with a counter-suit over where the case should be heard. The legal action adds to mounting scrutiny over the use of generative AI to create non-consensual sexualised imagery and the responsibility of platform operators to prevent abuse.
Allegations Against Grok And xAI
The lawsuit, filed in New York on Thursday, claims that Grok created sexually explicit images of St Clair without her consent. St Clair is the mother of one of Elon Musk’s children. Grok is developed by xAI, which is also the parent company of X.
According to the court filing, X users retrieved photographs of St Clair taken when she was 14 years old and asked Grok to alter the images to depict her in a bikini or undressed. The filing alleges that Grok complied with those requests. It further claims the images were effectively non-consensual and that Grok’s developers had explicit knowledge that St Clair did not consent to the creation of such content.
The lawsuit also alleges Grok generated an image portraying St Clair, who is Jewish, in a bikini covered with swastikas. St Clair’s legal team said this imagery compounded the harm caused by the deepfakes.
Claims Of Retaliation And Monetisation
St Clair’s filing says that after she raised complaints, xAI retaliated by demonetising her X account and that additional images of her were generated. Some premium users on X receive a share of advertising revenue from posts that attract high engagement.
xAI Counter-Suit And Jurisdiction Dispute
xAI has filed a counter-suit against St Clair, arguing she violated its terms of service by bringing the case in New York. The company’s terms specify that disputes must be filed in Texas.
Goldberg said the counter-suit was unusual, adding that she had not previously encountered a defendant suing someone for notifying them of legal action. She said St Clair would continue to pursue the case in New York and that the grievance would be recognised in any jurisdiction.
Wider Scrutiny Of Grok And Platform Controls
X and xAI have faced criticism from users, governments, and regulators over Grok’s ability to generate sexualised images of real people. Users were previously able to tag the Grok account and request image edits that removed clothing. Reports said Grok produced photo-realistic images of women in revealing attire and, in some cases, sexualised images of children.
Following public criticism, X restricted the feature to paid users, drawing objections from women’s groups and the UK government. The company later said it would prevent all users from editing images of real people to appear in revealing clothing in jurisdictions where it is illegal. It also said similar geoblocking measures would apply to the standalone Grok app.
On Friday, The Guardian reported it was still possible to generate sexualised deepfakes of real people using the Grok app and post them on X without apparent moderation.
Regulatory And Legal Context
The UK government is introducing legislation that will make it illegal to create non-consensual intimate images. Media regulator Ofcom is also examining whether X has breached existing UK laws.
St Clair revealed in an X post last year that she had given birth to one of Musk’s children. She and Musk are reported to be involved in a custody dispute.
Featured image credits: Heute.at
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