Elon Musk‘s xAI faces mounting legal pressure after a woman identified as Jane Doe 4 joined a lawsuit accusing the Grok chatbot of enabling the creation of child sexual abuse material.
Jane Doe 4 alleges that her stepfather used Grok to manipulate a photo taken of her when she was 11, generating more than 7,000 explicit images, according to TechCrunch and initially reported by The Washington Post. She said her stepfather was found dead by suicide two days after investigators discovered the images during a law-enforcement search.
Benzinga contacted xAI, now part of SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX), for comment, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
‘Limitless Access to AI tools is Spreading Quickly’
JaneDoe 4’s lawsuit expands a case filed in March by three Tennessee teenagers, who are alleging the company’s AI chatbot Grok, generated sexualized images of them without their consent.
The minors — identified as Jane Doe 1, 2, and 3 — allege these altered images were widely distributed on platforms such as Discord, Telegram and other file-sharing services, resulting in lasting emotional trauma and reputational harm.
According to the complaint, xAI disregarded standard safety protocols in the development of Grok, enabling the creation and monetization of harmful content.
Grok’s “Imagine” feature, which can create and edit images and video, has drawn criticism after reports that users were able to generate sexualized deepfakes at scale following a December model release. Apple later threatened to remove the app unless changes were made.
"Limitless access to these tools is spreading so quickly. It is taking everyday life and turning it into child sexual abuse," Jane Doe 4 said.
The plaintiffs are seeking class-action status for the case.
Grok’s Safety Under Scrutiny
Earlier this month, a federal judge allowed Minnesota’s new law banning nonconsensual AI-generated nude images to take effect, rejecting xAI’s request for an emergency injunction. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank said xAI waited until just days before the law’s launch to seek relief, weakening its argument that it faced immediate harm.
Frank left open the possibility of blocking the law later and scheduled an Aug. 19 hearing on xAI’s request for a preliminary injunction. xAI argues the measure violates the First Amendment, while the law targets platforms that enable or advertise realistic "nudified" images of identifiable people without their consent.
In January, Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, urging state authorities to investigate its chatbot Grok over the creation and spread of nonconsensual AI-generated sexual images involving children.
In a post on X, Newsom accused the company of enabling predators to exploit AI technology.
“xAI’s decision to create and host a breeding ground for predators to spread nonconsensual sexually explicit AI deepfakes, including images that digitally undress children, is vile,” Newsom wrote.
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