Ashley St. Clair Sues Musk’s XAI Over Alleged Specific Grok Photos

Ashley St. Clair, who gave start to considered one of Elon Musk’s sons in 2024, sued Musk’s xAI in a New York court docket on Thursday, alleging that its chatbot Grok generated sexually specific deepfake photographs of her at customers’ request.

Within the criticism, St. Clair, a author, influencer, and political strategist, claims X customers prompted Grok to govern photographs of her, together with photographs from when she was 14, into graphic sexual content material. She alleges some photographs remained on-line for greater than per week and that her premium X account was later terminated after she complained.

She can also be requesting a brief restraining order to compel xAI to instantly stop from “the intentional disclosure of nonconsensual intimate photographs.”

xAI didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

“Grok first promised Ms. St. Clair that it might chorus from manufacturing extra photographs unclothing her,” the criticism learn. “As an alternative, Defendant retaliated in opposition to her, demonetizing her X account and producing multitudes extra photographs of her,” the swimsuit alleged.

St. Clair can also be concerned in a separate swimsuit with Musk over the custody of their son, during which she sought sole custody.

xAI responded the identical day with a separate lawsuit, arguing that St. Clair agreed to its phrases of service, which requires any litigation to be heard in Texas. St. Clair is represented by lawyer Carrie Goldberg, who makes a speciality of instances involving abuse and has represented shoppers in opposition to Harvey Weinstein.

“xAI isn’t a fairly protected product,” Goldberg stated in a press release to Enterprise Insider. “This hurt flowed straight from deliberate design decisions that enabled Grok for use as a instrument of harassment and humiliation. Corporations shouldn’t be in a position to escape duty when the merchandise they construct predictably trigger this sort of hurt.”

The lawsuit adopted worldwide backlash in opposition to the Grok chatbot for its skill to undress photographs of actual individuals and create sexualized photographs with out their consent at customers’ request.

Indonesia and Malaysia blocked entry to Grok, whereas UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer referred to as specific photographs generated by Grok “disgusting” and “shameful” in a gathering with the Home of Commons.

On Wednesday, California Legal professional Common Rob Bonta additionally introduced that his workplace is investigating the “non-consensual, sexually specific materials that xAI has produced and posted on-line” of “ladies and youngsters in nude and sexually specific conditions.”

X stated on the identical day in a weblog put up that customers would not be allowed to create AI photographs of actual individuals in sexualized or revealing clothes on the platform, including that the restriction “applies to all customers, together with paid subscribers.”

As of Thursday morning, Enterprise Insider reporter Henry Chandonnet discovered that it’s nonetheless “surprisingly simple” to immediate Grok to create nude photographs of him by going to the app itself as an alternative of utilizing the Grok chatbot on X.