Ashley St. Clair sues Elon Musk's AI company over sexually explicit deepfake images from Grok

Mother of one of Elon Musk's offspring sues xAI over sexualized deepfakes

Ashley St Clair, the influencer and mother of one of Elon Musk's children, has sued the billionaire's AI company, accusing its Grok chatbot of creating fake sexual imagery of her without her consent. In the lawsuit, filed in New York state court, St Clair alleged that xAI's Grok first created an AI-generated or altered image of her in a bikini earlier this month. St Clair claims she made a request to xAI that no further such images be made, but nevertheless "countless sexually abusive, intimate, and degrading deepfake content of St. Clair [were] produced and distributed publicly by Grok." In one case, a photo of St Clair from when she was 14 years old was altered by Grok to undress her and put her in a bikini, according to the court filing. St Clair is a conservative influencer with about 1 million followers on X and the mother of one of Musk's children. The billionaire entrepreneur has espoused pronatalist views, arguing in support of increasing birth rates, and has fathered at least 14 children with several different women. After reporting the images to xAI, St Clair's account on the X social media platform was stripped of its verification checkmark, premium subscription and ability to monetize her posts, the filing said. The case has now been moved to federal court. xAI, which runs X, did not respond to a request for comment. The news comes as xAI and Musk have come under fire over fake sexualized images of women and children, which proliferated on the platform this year, particularly after Musk jokingly shared an AI-altered post of himself in a bikini. Over the past week, the issue has prompted threats of fines and bans in the EU, UK and France, as well as investigations by the California attorney-general and Britain's Ofcom regulator. Grok has also been banned in Indonesia and Malaysia. On Wednesday, xAI took action to restrict the image-generation function on its Grok AI model to block the chatbot from undressing users, insisting that it removed Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and non-consensual nudity material. St Clair, who has in recent months been increasingly critical of Musk, is also seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent xAI from generating images that undress her. "Ms St Clair is humiliated, depressed, fearful for her life, angry and desperately in need of action from this court to protect her against xAI's facilitation of this unfathomable nightmare," lawyers wrote in a filing seeking the restraining order. xAI filed a lawsuit against St Clair in Texas on Thursday, claiming she had breached the company's terms of service by bringing her lawsuit against the company in a New York court instead of in Texas. Earlier this week, Musk also said on X that he would be filing for "full custody" of their one-year-old son Romulus, after St Clair apologized for sharing posts critical of transgender people in the past. Musk, who has a transgender child, has repeatedly been critical of transgender people and the rights of trans individuals. Additional reporting by Kaye Wiggins in New York.

Grok undressed the mother of one of Elon Musk's kids -- and now she's suing

Lauren Feiner is a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering the intersection of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill. She spent 5 years covering tech policy at CNBC, writing about antitrust, privacy, and content moderation reform. Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of X owner Elon Musk's children, is suing his company for enabling its AI to virtually strip her down into a bikini without her consent. St. Clair is one of the many people over the past couple weeks who have found themselves undressed without permission by X's AI chatbot, Grok. The chatbot has been gingerly complying with users' requests to remove clothing from many women and some apparent minors, or put them in sexualized poses or scenarios. The feature has caused an uproar from policymakers around the world who have launched investigations and vowed that new and existing laws should prevent this kind of behavior. But so far, The Verge has found, the bot continues to comply with requests. St. Clair filed suit against xAI in New York state, and the case was quickly moved to federal court on Thursday. She's alleging that the company has created a public nuisance and that the product is "unreasonably dangerous as designed," according to The Wall Street Journal. The argument is similar to those used in other social media cases advancing this year, focusing on product liability in an effort to circumvent the strong legal shield for hosting content under Section 230. St. Clair is being represented by Carrie Goldberg, the Journal wrote, who has been at the forefront of these kinds of arguments against tech companies. xAI filed its own suit against St. Clair on Thursday in the Northern District of Texas, arguing she had breached her contract with the company by bringing her dispute to a different court, when the company's terms of service require her to exclusively file claims in the Texas court. In response to a request for comment sent to xAI's media email, The Verge received what appeared to be an auto response: "Legacy Media Lies."

Ashley St. Clair Sues Elon Musk's xAI Over Grok Sexual Images

Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Elon Musk's children, sued the billionaire's artificial intelligence company for harassment, accusing xAI's Grok chatbot of generating sexually explicit images of her without her consent. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in New York, claims that the chatbot altered real photos of her -- including images of her as a child -- to depict her naked and in other sexual contexts that were distributed on X, Musk's social media platform. St. Clair said she made public and private requests for the images to be removed, but xAI failed to take down the content. "Grok first promised Ms. St. Clair that it would refrain from manufacturing more images unclothing her," her lawyers said in the lawsuit. "Instead, Defendant retaliated against her, demonetizing her X account and generating multitudes more images of her" in inappropriate situations. St. Clair's suit comes amid heightened scrutiny of Grok's image-generation technology by governments and regulators around the world. xAI said Wednesday that it was disabling the chatbot's ability to create sexualized images of real people. X and xAI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. After St. Clair's lawsuit was filed, X filed a separate action, accusing her of breach of contract for failing to file the lawsuit in federal court in Texas as required by the company's terms of service. In her suit, St. Clair accuses xAI of design defects and negligence, for failing to prevent foreseeable harm to users.

Mother of Elon Musk's child sues his AI company over sexual deepfake images created by Grok

The mother of one of Elon Musk's children is suing his AI company, saying its Grok chatbot allowed users to generate sexually exploitive deepfake images of her that have caused her humiliation and emotional distress. Ashley St. Clair, 27, who describes herself as a writer and political strategist, alleges in a lawsuit filed Thursday in New York City against xAI that the images have included a photo of her fully dressed at age 14 that was altered to show her in a bikini, and others showing her as an adult in sexualized positions and wearing a bikini with swastikas. St. Clair is Jewish. Grok is on Musk's social media platform X. Lawyers and media contacts for xAI did not immediately return emails seeking comment Friday. On Wednesday, following global backlash over sexualized images of women and children, X announced that Grok would no longer be able to edit photos to portray real people in revealing clothing, in places where that is illegal. St. Clair said she reported the deepfakes to X after they began appearing last year and asked that they be removed. She said the platform first replied that the images did not violate its policies. Then it promised to not allow images of her to be used or altered without her consent, she said. St. Clair said the social platform then retaliated against her by removing her premium X subscription and verification checkmark, not allowing her to make money from her account, which has 1 million followers, and continuing to allow degrading fake images of her. "I have suffered and continue to suffer serious pain and mental distress as a result of xAI's role in creating and distributing these digitally altered images of me," she said in a document attached to the lawsuit. "I am humiliated and feel like this nightmare will never stop so long as Grok continues to generate these images of me." She also said she lives in fear of the people who view the deepfakes of her. St. Clair is the mother of Musk's 16-month-old son, Romulus. She lives in New York City, where she filed the lawsuit in state Supreme Court. She is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages for alleged infliction of emotional distress and other claims, as well as court orders immediately barring xAI from allowing more deepfakes of her. Later Thursday, lawyers for xAI transferred the lawsuit to federal court in Manhattan, asking a judge to hear the case there. And the same day, xAI also countersued St. Clair in federal court in the Northern District of Texas, alleging she violated the terms of her xAI user agreement that requires lawsuits against the company be filed in federal court in Texas. It is seeking an undisclosed money judgment against her. X is based in Texas, where Musk owns a home and his electric automaker Tesla in headquartered in Austin. Carrie Goldberg, a lawyer for St. Clair, called the countersuit a "jolting" move that she had never seen by a defendant before. "Ms. St. Clair will be vigorously defending her forum in New York," Goldberg said in a statement. "But frankly, any jurisdiction will recognize the gravamen of Ms. St. Clair's claims -- that by manufacturing nonconsensual sexually explicit images of girls and women, xAI is a public nuisance and a not reasonably safe product." In its announcement on Wednesday, X said it was implementing other safeguards on Grok including limiting image creation and editing to paid accounts, which it said would improve accountability. It said it had zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation, nonconsensual nudity and unwanted sexual content, and it would immediately remove such content and report accounts involved in child sex abuse materials to law enforcement.

The mother of one of Elon Musk's children is suing xAI over nonconsensual deepfake images

Although X removed Grok's ability to create nonconsensual digitally undressed images on the social platform, the standalone Grok app is another story. It reportedly continues to produce "nudified" deepfakes of real people. And now, Ashley St. Clair, a conservative political strategist and mother of one of Elon Musk's 14 children, has sued xAI for nonconsensual sexualized images of her that Grok allegedly produced. In the court filing, St. Clair accused xAI's Grok chatbot of creating and disseminating deepfakes of her "as a child stripped down to a string bikini, and as an adult in sexually explicit poses, covered in semen, or wearing only bikini floss." In some cases, the chatbot allegedly produced bikini-clad deepfakes of St. Clair based on a photo of her as a 14-year-old. "People took pictures of me as a child and undressed me. There's one where they undressed me and bent me over, and in the background is my child's backpack that he's wearing right now," she said. "I am also seeing images where they add bruises to women, beat them up, tie them up, mutilated," St. Clair told The Guardian. "These sickos used to have to go to the dark depths of the internet, and now it is on a mainstream social media app." St. Clair said that, after she reported the images to X, the social platform replied that the content didn't violate any policies. In addition, she claims that X left the images posted for up to seven days after she reported them. St. Clair said xAI then retaliated against her by creating more digitally undressed deepfakes of her, therefore "making [St. Clair] the laughingstock of the social media platform." She accused the company of then revoking her X Premium subscription, verification checkmark and ability to monetize content on the platform. "xAI further banned [her] from repurchasing Premium," St. Clair's court filing states. On Wednesday, X said it changed its policies so that Grok would no longer generate sexualized images of children or nonconsensual nudity "in those jurisdictions where it's illegal." However, the standalone Grok app reportedly continues to undress and sexualize photos when prompted to do so. Apple and Google have thus far done, well, absolutely nothing. Despite the multi-week outrage over the deepfakes -- and an open letter from 28 advocacy groups -- neither company has removed the X or Grok apps from their app stores. Both the App Store and Play Store have policies that explicitly prohibit apps that generate such content. Neither Apple nor Google has responded to multiple requests for comment from Engadget. That includes a follow-up email sent on Friday, regarding the Grok app continuing to "nudify" photos of real women and other people. While Apple and Google fail to act, many governments have done the opposite. On Monday, Malaysia and Indonesia banned Grok. The same day, UK regulator Ofcom opened a formal investigation into X. California opened one on Wednesday. The US Senate even passed the Defiance Act for a second time in the wake of the blowback. "If you are a woman, you can't post a picture, and you can't speak, or you risk this abuse," St. Clair told The Guardian. "It's dangerous, and I believe this is by design. You are supposed to feed AI humanity and thoughts, and when you are doing things that particularly impact women, and they don't want to participate in it because they are being targeted, it means the AI is inherently going to be biased." Speaking about Musk and his team, she added that "these people believe they are above the law, because they are. They don't think they are going to get in trouble, they think they have no consequences."

Ashley St Clair, mother of Elon Musk's child, sues xAI over Grok deepfakes

X did not respond directly to BBC News's enquiries about the lawsuits. "We intend to hold Grok accountable and to help establish clear legal boundaries for the entire public's benefit to prevent AI from being weaponised for abuse," St Clair's lawyer Carrie Goldberg told BBC News. "By manufacturing nonconsensual sexually explicit images of girls and women, xAI is a public nuisance and a not reasonably safe product," Goldberg added. St Clair's court filing alleges: "X users dug up photos of St Clair fully clothed at 14 years old and requested Grok undress her and put her in a bikini. Grok obliged". It says the imagery created of St Clair was "de facto non-consensual" but Grok's developers also had "explicit knowledge" of her lack of consent. It also claims Grok generated an image which put St Clair, who is Jewish, "in a string bikini covered with swastikas". In response to her complaints, the filing says, the company "retaliated against her, demonetizing her X account and generating multitudes more images of her". Some X premium users, who pay a monthly fee, can receive a share of advertising revenue gained from posts which receive a lot of engagement. In a counter-suit, xAI said that St Clair had violated their terms of service by filing her lawsuit in New York. The company's terms say disputes with xAI must be brought in Texas. Goldberg told BBC News the company's counter-suit was "jolting". "I have never heard of any defendant suing somebody for notifying them of their intention to use the legal system," she said. "And their mistreatment of her online is mimicked in their legal strategy." She added St Clair would be "vigorously defending" her case in New York and that "any jurisdiction will recognise" the grievance. It was revealed by St Clair in an X post last year that she had given birth to the tech billionaire's child - one of at least 13 he is believed to have fathered. St Clair and Musk are thought to be engaged in a custody battle over their child.

Mother of one of Elon Musk's sons sues over Grok-generated explicit images

Ashley St Clair files lawsuit in state of New York over deepfakes that appeared on social media platform X The mother of one of Elon Musk's children is suing his company alleging explicit images were generated by his Grok AI tool, including one in which she was underage. Ashley St Clair has filed a lawsuit with the supreme court of the state of New York against xAI, alleging that Grok, which is used on the social media platform X, promised to stop generating explicit images but continued to do so. She is seeking punitive and compensatory damages, claiming dozens of sexually explicit and degrading deepfake images were generated by Grok. After two weeks of public outcry at the tool embedded into X being used to create sexualised images of women and children, the company said on Wednesday it would "geoblock" the ability of users "to generate images of real people in bikinis, underwear, and similar attire via the Grok account and in Grok in X" in countries where it was illegal. St Clair, 27, who is estranged from Musk, is a rightwing influencer, author and political commentator. She and Musk are the parents of a son born in 2024. She is being represented by Carrie Goldberg, a victims' rights lawyer who specialises in holding tech companies accountable and has previously represented women who were victims of sexual harassment and abuse. The filing alleges the social media company X "retaliated against her, demonetizing her X account and generating multitudes more images of her, including unlawful images of her in sex positions, covered in semen, virtually nude, and images of her as a child naked". Images generated by Grok, according to the filing, include one of her as a 14-year-old stripped into a string bikini plus sexualised content of St Clair as an adult, including a request to "put the girl in a bikini made out of floss". Not only were the images de facto nonconsensual, the filing states, but "Grok and xAI also had explicit knowledge that St Clair was not consenting to the creation of dissemination of these images because of her requests for removal". Grok also responded to user requests to add tattoos on to St Clair's body including the words "Elon's whore", the filing said. St Clair, who is Jewish, alleges Grok digitally dressed her in a bikini decorated with swastikas. The lawsuit states that X "financially benefited from the creation and dissemination of nonconsensual, realistic, sexualized deepfake content depicting Plaintiff as a minor and adult". The filing states that "xAI is directly liable for the harassment and explicit images created by its own chatbot, Grok". Musk has posted on X that the users of his app are responsible for the images they create. He said recently: "Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content." He added: "Obviously, Grok does not spontaneously generate images, it does so only according to user requests." X said on Thursday it had "zero tolerance for any forms of child sexual exploitation, nonconsensual nudity, and unwanted sexual content". The company has filed a countersuit claiming that according to the terms of service of X, St Clair cannot sue the company in New York but has to do so in Texas. St Clair previously told the Guardian that she felt "horrified and violated", adding: "It's another tool of harassment. Consent is the whole issue." Acolytes of Musk had disliked her since she went public about his desire to build a "legion" of children, she said. Musk is the father of 13 other children, with three other women.

Mother of Elon Musk's Child Sues xAI Over Grok Abuse

"She lives in fear that nude and sexual images of herself, including of her as a child." Elon Musk's Grok AI kicked off a massive scandal over the past month when users started using it to digitally undress both adults and even children, triggering a widespread outcry and wave of criticism. The fallout led Musk's social media platform, X, to announce that it was implementing "technical measures" to prevent users from using the AI to undress real people or place them in revealing clothing like bikinis -- once again highlighting the billionaire's explosively fast-and-loose approach to content moderation. The changes, however, appear to have done little to address the issue. Paid subscribers will continue to have the ability to create and edit Grok images, prompting criticism from experts. The damage is hitting close to home for Musk. Ashley St. Clair, a conservative influencer who had a child with Musk, is now suing xAI, accusing it of allowing users to generate lewd pictures of her. "She lives in fear that nude and sexual images of herself, including of her as a child, will continue to be created by xAI and that she will not be safe from the people who consume these images," reads a legal filing quoted by the Wall Street Journal. The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in New York County and has since been moved to federal court. "This is one extremely impacted woman taking a stance," St. Cair's lawyer Carrie Goldberg said in a statement. "The intention of the lawsuit is to deter this dehumanizing treatment by xAI for all of the public." Goldberg alleges that Grok was used to generate lewd images of St. Clair as a 14-year-old child and posing in sexually explicit ways as an adult. The influencer, who is Jewish, was also allegedly depicted wearing a swastika-covered bikini, and with a tattoo that read "Elon's w**re." The suit accused Musk's company of allowing the images to stay online for over a week. Even after labeling her responses to the images with a content warning, the images themselves allegedly stayed up. The lawsuit also claims that xAI found "no violations" when she reported the offending images. St. Clair's relationship with Musk has been rocky, to say the least. She is only one of several mothers of Musk's 14 children. As the Wall Street Journal reported last year, St. Clair has since revealed how Musk offered her $15 million, plus a monthly $100,000 in support, to keep her from publicizing the fact that she had birthed his child. Beyond enabling the generation of sexualized images of St. Clair, Grok has also been used to depict horrific violence against real women and accurately dox the home addresses of everyday people. The horrific trend has proven immensely unpopular. A recent survey found that a staggering 97 percent of respondents said that AI tools shouldn't be allowed to generate sexually explicit content of children. 96 percent said the tool shouldn't be able to generate "undressed" images of them in underwear. "The continued ease of access to sophisticated nudification tools clearly demonstrates that X isn't taking the issue of online violence against women and girls seriously enough," End Violence Against Women Coalition head of policy and campaigns Rebecca Hitchen told The Guardian. "The truth is Musk and the tech sector simply do not prioritise safety or dignity in the products they create," Fawcett Society chief executive Penny East added. "It's a pretty low bar for women to expect that they can converse online without men undressing them. And yet seemingly even that is impossible."

Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Elon Musk's children, sues xAI over Grok sexual images

Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Elon Musk's children, sued Musk's xAI artificial intelligence company Thursday, alleging that the AI giant was negligent and inflicted emotional distress by enabling users of its AI tool, called Grok, to create deepfake photos of her in sexually explicit poses and by failing to sufficiently limit such behavior after her complaints. The lawsuit comes after weeks of mounting backlash against Grok's ability to generate nonconsensual deepfakes, allowing users to remove clothes from people depicted in photos uploaded to the service and often replacing clothes with bikinis or underwear. Her lawsuit was filed in state court in New York but quickly transferred to the federal Southern District of New York after a request from xAI. St. Clair had notified xAI that users were creating illicit deepfake photos of her "as a child stripped down to a string bikini" and "as an adult in sexually explicit poses" and requested that the Grok service be prevented from creating the nonconsensual images, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit alleges that even though Grok confirmed her "images will not be used or altered without explicit consent in any future generations or responses," xAI continued to allow users to create more explicit AI-generated images of her and instead retaliated by demonetizing her X account. X and xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Thursdaym xAI sued St. Clair in federal court in Texas, saying she violated xAI's terms of service and claiming damages of over $75,000. xAI said in its suit that any claims against the company must be filed in either federal court in the Northern District of Texas or in state courts in Tarrant County, Texas. Last week, X limited the capabilities of the @Grok reply bot, seemingly preventing it from generating the images that nonconsensually put identifiable people in revealing swimsuits or underwear. As of the time of the reporting, those capabilities remained intact on the standalone Grok app and the Grok website and in the dedicated Grok tab on X. Grok has been creating a flood of sexualized AI-generated images for weeks, with the pace reaching thousands such images per hour last week, according to researchers. Many of the images have been posted publicly on X. The creation and spread of nonconsensual sexualized images have sparked a worldwide response, including several government investigations and calls for smartphone app marketplaces to ban or restrict X. Regulators and other tech companies, though, have stopped short of restricting the app. California's attorney general launched an investigation into Grok on Wednesday as Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X that "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." St. Clair's suit alleges that Grok's feature allowing users to create nonconsensual deepfakes is a design defect and that the company could have foreseen the use of the feature to harass people with unlawful images. It says those depicted in the deepfakes, including St. Clair, suffered extreme distress. "Defendant engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct, exceeding all bounds of decency and utterly intolerable in a civilized society," the suit says.

Mother of one of Elon Musk's children sues xAI over sexual Grok deepfakes

Ashley St. Clair, mother of one of Elon Musk's children, sued xAI in New York state court on Thursday, alleging negligence and emotional distress from the AI tool Grok enabling deepfake sexually explicit photos of her, despite her prior complaints to the company. The lawsuit details how users of Grok created deepfake images depicting St. Clair as a child stripped down to a string bikini and as an adult in sexually explicit poses. St. Clair notified xAI about these illicit deepfake photos and requested that the service prevent creation of such nonconsensual images. This notification preceded the lawsuit by a period during which the issue persisted. Grok operates by allowing users to upload photos of people, after which the AI removes clothing from those depicted and often replaces it with bikinis or underwear, generating nonconsensual deepfakes. St. Clair's complaint states that xAI responded to her notice with confirmation that her images would not be used or altered without explicit consent in any future generations or responses. Advocacy groups slam Apple and Google for hosting Grok and X apps Despite this assurance, xAI permitted continued creation of more explicit AI-generated images of St. Clair. The lawsuit further claims xAI retaliated against her by demonetizing her X account. xAI requested transfer of the case from New York state court to the federal Southern District of New York, where it now proceeds. X and xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit or related matters. In the week prior to the filing, X implemented limitations on the @Grok reply bot, restricting it from generating images that nonconsensually place identifiable people in revealing swimsuits or underwear. These restrictions did not extend to other platforms at the time of reporting. The standalone Grok app, the Grok website, and the Grok tab on X retained capabilities to produce such images. Researchers observed Grok generating thousands of sexualized AI-generated images per hour during the preceding week. Many of these images appeared publicly on X, contributing to widespread dissemination. The volume and nature of these nonconsensual sexualized images prompted a worldwide response, including multiple government investigations. Authorities called for smartphone app marketplaces to ban or restrict X over these features. California launched a "Chuck" investigation into the matter. Governor Gavin Newsom posted on X a statement condemning the situation: "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." This public criticism highlighted concerns about the platform's role in facilitating such content. St. Clair's lawsuit characterizes Grok's feature for creating nonconsensual deepfakes as a design defect. It asserts that xAI could have foreseen the feature's use for harassing individuals with unlawful images. Those depicted, including St. Clair, experienced extreme distress from the generated deepfakes. The complaint accuses xAI of extreme and outrageous conduct. It states verbatim: "Defendant engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct, exceeding all bounds of decency and utterly intolerable in a civilized society." These allegations form the basis of claims for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Mother of Elon Musk's Child Sues His AI Company Over Sexual Deepfake Images Created by Grok

Ashley St. Clair, 27, who describes herself as a writer and political strategist, alleges in a lawsuit filed Thursday in New York City against xAI that the images have included a photo of her fully dressed at age 14 that was altered to show her in a bikini, and others showing her as an adult in sexualized positions and wearing a bikini with swastikas. St. Clair is Jewish. Grok is on Musk's social media platform X. Lawyers for xAI did not immediately return emails seeking comment Friday. On Wednesday, following global backlash over sexualized images of women and children, X announced that Grok would no longer be able to edit photos to portray real people in revealing clothing, in places where that is illegal. Asked about the lawsuit and its allegations, xAI replied only "Legacy Media Lies" in an email to The Associated Press.

Mother of Musk child sues over Grok sexualized images

Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Elon Musk's children, is suing the tech billionaire's AI company, xAI, after its chatbot Grok produced sexualized images of her. St. Clair filed suit against xAI in New York state court Thursday, alleging that Grok generated images of her "as a child stripped down to a string bikini, and as an adult in sexually explicit poses, covered in semen, or wearing only bikini floss." When she requested the chatbot stop producing these images without her consent, it initially acquiesced but then continued to create sexualized deepfakes, according to the lawsuit. St. Clair also alleges that she reported the images to X, which also is owned by Musk, but the platform determined there was no violation. X then removed her Premium subscription and banned her from the monetization and subscriber program. "xAI is not a reasonably safe product," Carrie Goldberg, St. Clair's attorney, said in a statement. "Nobody has borne the brunt more than Ashley St. Clair." "This harm flowed directly from deliberate design choices that enabled Grok to be used as a tool of harassment and humiliation," Goldberg continued. "Companies should not be able to escape responsibility when the products they build predictably cause this kind of harm. We intend to hold Grok accountable and to help establish clear legal boundaries for the entire public's benefit to prevent AI from being weaponized for abuse." The Hill has reached out to xAI for comment. Grok has faced intense scrutiny from regulators around the world in recent weeks for generating sexualized images of women and children on X. Malaysia and Indonesia have both restricted access to Grok, while the United Kingdom's communications regulator and California's attorney general have each announced investigations into the chatbot and platform. Amid the backlash, Grok initially restricted access to image generation and editing tools to paid subscribers. X announced additional limitations Wednesday, saying it would block all users, including paid subscribers, from using the chatbot to edit images of real people in "revealing clothing such as bikinis." It also said it would geoblock users from generating images of real people in revealing clothing in "jurisdictions where it's illegal."

Elon Musk's AI company faces lawsuit from 'mother of his child' over Grok deepfakes

The mother of one of Elon Musk's children is suing his AI company, saying its Grok chatbot allowed users to generate sexually exploitive deepfake images of her that have caused her humiliation and emotional distress, as per reports. Ashley St Clair, 27, who describes herself as a writer and political strategist, alleges in a lawsuit filed on Thursday in New York City against xAI that the images have included a photo of her fully dressed at age 14 that was altered to show her in a bikini, and others showing her as an adult in sexualised positions and wearing a bikini with swastikas. St Clair is Jewish. Grok is on Musk's social media platform X. Lawyers and media contacts for xAI did not immediately return emails seeking comment on Friday. On Wednesday, following global backlash over sexualized images of women and children, X announced that Grok would no longer be able to edit photos to portray real people in revealing clothing, in places where that is illegal. St Clair said she reported the deepfakes to X after they began appearing last year and asked that they be removed. She said the platform first replied that the images did not violate its policies. Then it promised to not allow images of her to be used or altered without her consent, she said. St Clair said the social platform then retaliated against her by removing her premium X subscription and verification checkmark, not allowing her to make money from her account, which has 1 million followers, and continuing to allow degrading fake images of her. "I have suffered and continue to suffer serious pain and mental distress as a result of xAI's role in creating and distributing these digitally altered images of me," she said in a document attached to the lawsuit. "I am humiliated and feel like this nightmare will never stop so long as Grok continues to generate these images of me." She also said she lives in fear of the people who view the deepfakes of her. St Clair is the mother of Musk's 16-month-old son, Romulus. She lives in New York City, where she filed the lawsuit in state Supreme Court. She is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages for alleged infliction of emotional distress and other claims, as well as court orders immediately barring xAI from allowing more deepfakes of her. Later Thursday, lawyers for xAI transferred the lawsuit to federal court in Manhattan, asking a judge to hear the case there. And the same day, xAI also countersued St Clair in federal court in the Northern District of Texas, alleging she violated the terms of her xAI user agreement that requires lawsuits against the company be filed in federal court in Texas. It is seeking an undisclosed money judgment against her. X is based in Texas, where Musk owns a home and his electric automaker Tesla in headquartered in Austin. Carrie Goldberg, a lawyer for St Clair, called the countersuit a "jolting" move that she had never seen by a defendant before. "Ms St Clair will be vigorously defending her forum in New York," Goldberg said in a statement. "But frankly, any jurisdiction will recognize the gravamen of Ms St Clair's claims -- that by manufacturing non-consensual sexually explicit images of girls and women, xAI is a public nuisance and a not reasonably safe product." In its announcement on Wednesday, X said it was implementing other safeguards on Grok including limiting image creation and editing to paid accounts, which it said would improve accountability. It said it had zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity and unwanted sexual content, and it would immediately remove such content and report accounts involved in child sex abuse materials to law enforcement (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)

Mom Of Elon Musk's Baby Rips His Reaction To AI Bot Sex Abuse Scandal: 'Absent All Morality'

"Images I saw do seem to be illegal, and even them coming out and now trying to place safeguards afterwards seems like an admission that they know that there has been an issue, that it has been creating nonconsensual, sexually explicit images of women and children," St. Clair said on CNN. Musk and his social media platform X have come under fire this month after reports of malicious users using the chatbot, Grok, to generate explicit images of women and minors without their consent. The X CEO released a statement Thursday saying he was "not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero." "Obviously, Grok does not spontaneously generate images, it does so only according to user requests. When asked to generate images, it will refuse to produce anything illegal, as the operating principle for Grok is to obey the laws of any given country or state," Musk said. "There may be times when adversarial hacking of Grok prompts does something unexpected. If that happens, we fix the bug immediately." St. Clair, who said she was one of the people targeted by Grok users, told CNN host Erin Burnett that Musk's statement "is deceptive at best." "Because, while maybe there weren't actual nude images, it was pretty close to it, and the images that I saw, not only of myself, but of, I don't even know whose children who were undressed and covered in various fluids," St. Clair said. "The abuse was so widespread and so horrific, and it's still allowed to happen." Reuters observed that "Grok fully complied" with X users' requests to digitally alter photos in at least 21 cases by "generating images of women in dental-floss-style or translucent bikinis." The outlet noted that it could not "immediately establish the identities and ages of most of the women targeted." The Washington Post found that some of the images it reviewed "appear to portray children." The chatbot itself was even prompted to write an apology for generating and sharing what it described as "an AI image of two young girls (estimated ages 12-16) in sexualized attire based on a user's prompt." Both the Office of Communications in the U.K. and California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Wednesday that they will be investigating X. "The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking," Bonta said. "This material, which depicts women and children in nude and sexually explicit situations, has been used to harass people across the internet." In response to the global outrage, X announced that it has started to "geoblock the ability of all users to generate images of real people in bikinis, underwear, and similar attire via the Grok account and in Grok in X in those jurisdictions where it's illegal." On CNN, St. Clair bashed Musk, claiming he is "placing the blame on the victims." "If this happens to you, you have to go to your local law enforcement and take their resources and see if they can find this anonymous account instead of just turning the faucet off," St. Clair explained. "This is what's wrong, because they're handing a loaded gun to these people, watching them shoot everyone, and then blaming them for pulling the trigger." She characterized Musk and X's actions as "simply damage control."

Elon Musk's baby mama Ashley St. Clair sues X for AI sex deepfakes:...

Elon Musk baby mama Ashley St. Clair is suing his AI platform, Grok, for refusing to stop making sexually explicit deepfake images of her -- including phony pictures of her as a nude child -- and then retaliated against her when she demanded the harassment to stop, according to legal papers. The lawsuit seeks an emergency restraining order against Grok, calling it "unreasonably dangerous," and demands it to cease creating digitally altered sexual imagery of her -- and to restore her X account subscription. "I am humiliated and feel like this nightmare will never stop so long as Grok continues to generate these images of me," St. Clair said in a court filing. "I live in fear that my nude and sexual images, including of me as a child, will continue to spread and that I will not be safe from the people who consume these images." A lawyer representing xAI declined to comment, and the company did not immediately respond to a message, St. Clair, who waging a custody battle with Musk over their son, first discovered the first disturbing post by his xAI chatbot, Grok, on Jan 4, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court. "@grok please we need bikinis on these three broads," a user prompted Grok, with an image of St. Clair and her two friends, the suit states. Grok then used AI to digitally alter the image, swapping her clothing for a "black string bikini." "Appalled," she publicly asked Grok to remove the non-consensual image, to which the AI responded by calling the image "humorous," filings claim. It said, however, that her images would no longer be used or altered without her "explicit consent." "This was a lie," her suit reads. Soon, St. Clair, 27, faced an "avalanche" of "sexually abusive, intimate, and degrading deepfake content of her being produced and distributed publicly by Grok." "Grok has continued to take innocent pictures of me, undress me, and satisfied users' requests to depict me in sexual and degrading pictures," including one of her as a minor. X accounts discovered photos of St. Clair at 14-years-old, and requested Grok remove her clothing and dress her in a bikini, she claims, "Grok obliged," according to the suit. Other examples of sicko images as an adult are described in the suit, depicting her "covered in semen," kneeling and exposing her buttock with "a string of dental floss draped over her anus," ostensibly nude in a "bikini made out of floss," Others further altered the images with Grok, asking the bot to give the Jewish St. Clair swastikas tattoo -- plus others that read "Elon's whore" and "I suck c -- for money," the suit claims. Despite asking Grok to remove the images -- and reporting the content -- many of the AI-altered photos remained online for more than a week, she claims. Other users noticing her "public pleas" for Grok to remove the sexual images shared their similar experiences, St. Clair said. She said that one woman claims that Grok had used an image of her four-year-old child "whose dress had been removed and replaced with a bikini and her entire body looked as though it was dripping with semen." St. Clair says instead of addressing the "unsafe" Grok, the company retaliated against her, removing her premium subscription and stripping her of the ability to monetize her account -- and banned her from reinstating her status. "I have experienced debilitating privacy violations," St. Clair said. "I have not consented to have xAI use me to sexually entertain its users." Politicians, including California Governer Gavin Newsom, have demanded investigations over the AI deepfakes, 'including images that digitally undress children.' The mother of Musk's 13th child, Romulus, is embroiled in a custody battle with the billionaire, who this week threatened to seek full custody of the 1-year-old in response to St. Clair's recent public apology for past anti-trans comments.

Elon Musk's child's mother sues Grok AI for creating explicit deepfakes without consent

xAI has counter-sued in Texas, claiming St. Clair violated its terms of service, while reports indicate the AI continues to produce explicit images despite restrictions. Ashley St. Clair, who shares a child with X owner Elon Musk, has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk's AI company xAI, alleging that Grok has generated a deepfake of her in a bikini without her consent. The case adds to growing scrutiny around generative AI tools that can manipulate images to sexualise individuals without permission. For the unversed, the company has been facing criticism online for generating such images without consent for over a week now. St. Clair is among several users who have recently reported that Grok responded to prompts asking it to digitally remove clothing or place women, and in some cases, and in some cases individuals appearing to be minors, into sexualised scenarios. The behaviour has triggered backlash from regulators and lawmakers in multiple countries, many of whom have called for stricter enforcement of existing laws or the introduction of new safeguards governing AI systems. Despite the controversy, reports suggest the chatbot continues to comply with such requests. The lawsuit was filed in New York state court before being transferred to federal court earlier this week. As per the court filings cited by The Wall Street Journal, St. Clair argues that xAI's product poses a public risk and was designed in a way that makes it inherently unsafe. St. Clair is represented by Carrie Goldberg, a lawyer who has previously led high-profile cases against tech companies for online harm. In a separate action, xAI filed its own lawsuit against St. Clair in a Texas federal court, claiming she violated the company's terms by filing her complaint outside of the jurisdiction specified in its user agreement. It should be noted that xAI did not issue an official response in the statement. However, the company confirmed that it has prohibited the Grok chatbot from creating such images. However, reports show that the platform is still producing such explicit images.