xAI sues man accused of making CSAM with Grok

xAI has sued a South Carolina man it says used Grok to generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and sexualized deepfakes, in what appears to be the company’s first lawsuit over illegal AI-generated content made with its chatbot.

According to a lawsuit first reported by Reuters, xAI alleges that Terry Wayne Harwood “knowingly and intentionally used Grok to circumvent safeguards, alter nonconsensual images, and generate and distribute CSAM,” in violation of the company’s policies.

Harwood was arrested in February for allegedly possessing and distributing CSAM and is facing eight felony charges. The lawsuit says that “at least some” of the images tied to those criminal charges “were generated or altered” using Grok. xAI also alleges that Harwood bypassed the chatbot’s safeguards and used it to turn non-sexual photos into sexually explicit images without the subjects' consent.

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The case follows broader criticism of Grok’s image tools. After xAI rolled out a “spicy” mode last year, it later added image editing capabilities, which led to a wave of sexualized AI deepfakes, including images involving minors. In March, a group of teens sued xAI, alleging that Grok generated sexualized images of them as minors.

At the time, Elon Musk said:

“Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”

xAI says Harwood’s alleged conduct exposed the company to “significant legal risk and reputational damage.” It is asking the court to make Harwood pay damages, along with “reasonable expenses incurred defending itself in any legal action filed by a victim of Defendant’s conduct.” The company also wants Harwood barred from creating an xAI account or using Grok.