xAI sues a man for using Grok to generate CSAM 'deepfakes'

Elon Musk-owned xAI is suing a South Carolina man who allegedly used the company's Grok AI chatbot to generate child sexual abuse material, according to a lawsuit reported earlier by Reuters. The company claims Terry Wayne Harwood knowingly and intentionally used Grok to circumvent safeguards, alter nonconsensual images, and generate and distribute CSAM, breaching the company's policies. Harwood was arrested in February for allegedly possessing and distributing CSAM and is facing eight felony charges. The lawsuit claims at least some of the images related to Harwood's criminal charges were generated or altered with Grok, and that Harwood bypassed Grok's safeguards and abused the tool to convert non-sexual photographs into sexually explicit images without the subjects' consent. After rolling out a spicy mode for Grok last year, xAI added the ability to edit images with the chatbot, leading to a flood of sexualized AI deepfakes, including ones with minors. A group of teens sued xAI in March over claims Grok generated sexualized images of themselves as minors. Musk responded by saying anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content, though this appears to be the first time xAI has sued anyone over AI deepfakes created with Grok. xAI claims Harwood's alleged actions exposed the company to significant legal risk and reputational damage and has asked the court to order Harwood to pay for any damages as well as reasonable expenses incurred defending itself in any legal action filed by a victim of the defendant's conduct. xAI also wants the judge to block Harwood from creating an xAI account or using Grok.