xAI Attacks Grok User Over Child Pornography Deepfakes

xAI Sues a Grok User for Child Pornography Deepfakes

Elon Musk’s xAI is suing a South Carolina man who allegedly used the company's Grok chatbot to generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM). In a complaint reported earlier by Reuters, xAI claims that Terry Wayne Harwood "knowingly and intentionally used Grok to circumvent protections, alter non-consensual images, and generate and distribute CSAM," in violation of the company's policies.

Harwood was arrested in February for alleged possession and distribution of CSAM and faces eight criminal charges. The complaint states that "some" of the images related to Harwood's criminal charges "were generated or altered" using Grok, and that Harwood circumvented Grok's protections and "abused the tool to convert non-sexual photographs into sexual images" without the consent of the subjects.

After launching a "spicy" mode for Grok last year, xAI added the ability to edit images with the chatbot, leading to a wave of sexual deepfakes, including those involving minors. A group of teenagers sued xAI in March, claiming that Grok generated sexualized images of them when they were minors. Musk responded by stating, "Anyone using Grok to create illegal content will face the same consequences as if they were uploading illegal content," although this appears to be the first time xAI has taken legal action against someone for deepfakes created with Grok.

xAI claims that Harwood's alleged actions have exposed the company to "significant legal risk and reputational harm." It has asked the court to order Harwood to pay xAI for all damages, as well as for "reasonable expenses incurred in defending against any legal action brought by a victim of the defendant's conduct." xAI also seeks to have the judge block Harwood from creating an xAI account or using Grok.