Three plaintiffs from Tennessee, including two minors, filed a lawsuit on Monday against Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, alleging that its Grok image generator allowed users to create sexually explicit images using real photographs of other people, reports Reuters.
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in San Jose, California, seeks class-action status for individuals across the United States who were “reasonably identifiable” in sexualized images or videos allegedly generated by Grok AI using real images of them.
The AI company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Following widespread criticism over sexually explicit content produced by the chatbot, xAI said in January that it had blocked users from editing images of “real people in revealing clothing” and from generating such images in jurisdictions where it is illegal.
Governments and regulators worldwide have also launched investigations, imposed bans and demanded stronger safeguards as part of growing efforts to curb illegal and offensive material generated by artificial intelligence systems.
According to the lawsuit, xAI failed to implement adequate safeguards to prevent its systems from generating sexual content involving minors. All three plaintiffs were minors at the time the alleged images were created.
The plaintiffs claim their real photographs were digitally altered into explicit images and later shared online through various platforms, causing emotional distress and creating a public nuisance.
They are seeking unspecified damages, legal fees and a court order requiring xAI to halt the alleged practices.
“These are children whose school photographs and family pictures were turned into child sexual abuse material,” plaintiffs’ counsel Annika Martin of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein said in a statement.
She added that Musk and xAI had deliberately designed Grok to produce sexually explicit content for financial gain, “with no regard for the children and adults who would be harmed.”
Bd-pratidin English/ Jisan
