Teens sue Musk's xAI, arguing Grok made child sexual abuse material

A Tennessee mother said her daughter's senior year turned into a "nightmare" after she learned that fake nude images of her had been created and disseminated online by a person using Elon Musk's xAI artificial intelligence model, according to a federal lawsuit filed on March 16.

The family is one of three with teens who filed a class-action lawsuit against the artificial intelligence company, arguing that xAI "knowingly" participated in the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material and failed to protect children from being the subject of it.

Police informed several families that child sexual abuse material was created of their daughters after a man was arrested in December 2025 for allegedly using xAI's Grok to create sexually explicit content of teenage girls, according to a class action lawsuit filed on March 16 in the U.S. Northern District of California Court.

The man allegedly took photos of at least 18 minor girls and prompted xAI's Grok to remove their clothes and manipulate the photos "to produce sexually suggestive content," according to the lawsuit.

The class consists of minors living in the United States who had real images of themselves as minors altered by Grok to produce "digitally altered, sexualized images or videos with their faces and other identifiable features," according to a statement released by Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and Baehr-Jones Law, the law firms representing the families.

“These are children whose school photographs and family pictures were turned into child sexual abuse material by a billion-dollar company’s AI tool and then traded among predators. Elon Musk and xAI deliberately designed Grok to produce sexually explicit content for financial gain, with no regard for the children and adults who would be harmed by it,” said Annika Martin, a lawyer from Lieff Cabraser.

“Without xAI, this harmful, illegal content could never, and would never, have existed. The lives of these girls have been shattered by the devastating loss of privacy and the deep sense of violation that no child should ever have to experience. We intend to hold xAI accountable for every child they harmed in this way.” 

The USA TODAY Network reached out to xAI for comment on the lawsuit but had not received a response from the company at the time of publication.

Lawsuit argues Musk 'saw a business opportunity'

Since January, xAI has been at the receiving end of a growing number of lawsuits.

During an 11-day period in late December 2025 and early January 2026, researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate estimated Grok generated approximately 3 million sexualized images and 23,000 images depicting apparent children, which were then publicly posted onto X or disseminated on the internet.

Across the social media platform X, women reported how they were being digitally harassed as people used Grok's "spicy mode" to create sexually explicit images by using prompts like "undress them" or "put them into a bikini." 

Musk's X attempted to limit Grok's ability to generate such images by restricting the feature to platform subscribers. But despite the restriction, images were still created without women's consent.

The lawsuit argues that xAI, under the leadership of Musk, had actively designed its artificial intelligence model with the intent to create sexually explicit content.

"Musk defended Grok’s spicy mode as a business decision, comparing it to the competition for dominant videotape format between VHS and Betamax and seemingly referencing the wider availability of pornographic videos on VHS than on Betamax," the lawsuit reads.

Musk said in a post on Aug. 11, 2025, that "VHS won in the end, in part because they allowed spicy mode."

The lawsuit also argues that Grok lacked features available with most other companies that create, market and sell AI images or video, such as actively incorporating "industry-standard guardrails" which prohibit AI models from creating sexual content, and actively reporting individuals who create or distribute child sexual abuse material.

"xAI and its founder Elon Musk saw a business opportunity: an opportunity to profit off the sexual predation of real people, including children. Knowing the type of harmful, illegal content that could and would be produced, xAI released Grok, a generative artificial intelligence model with image- and video-making features that would respond to prompts to create sexual content with a person’s real image or video," the lawsuit reads.

The plaintiffs bring the claims against xAI under Masha's Law, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and California state law, specifically filing 13 counts against the company ranging from the possession and distribution of child pornography, negligence, intention to inflict emotional distress and public nuisance.

The lawsuit is seeking damages, punitive damages and injunctive relief as a result of Grok creating child sexual abuse material.

A growing list of lawsuits and an investigation into xAI

The lawsuit filed on March 16 is the latest in a line of lawsuits and investigations launched against xAI since Grok generated millions of sexualized images of women and girls in late 2025 and early 2026.

The first major investigation happened after California's Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that the state's Department of Justice would open an investigation into Musk's company.

“The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking. This material, which depicts women and children in nude and sexually explicit situations, has been used to harass people across the internet," Bonta said in a statement on Jan. 14.

"I urge xAI to take immediate action to ensure this goes no further. We have zero tolerance for the AI-based creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate images or of child sexual abuse material.” 

The following day, on Jan. 15, Ashley St. Clair, a conservative influencer who shares a child with Musk, filed a lawsuit in New York against xAI in an attempt to "hold Grok accountable" and to "prevent AI from being weaponised for abuse."

St. Clair's lawsuit argues that Grok was used to create sexual images of her, including a photo of her when she was 14 years old.

Most recently, on Jan. 23, an anonymous plaintiff filed a class action lawsuit against xAI in California's U.S. Northern District Court, arguing xAI knew that Grok would be used to create sexually explicit images of women and girls using deepfake technology and those images can "never be erased."

Noe Padilla is a Northern California Reporter for USA Today. Contact him at [email protected], follow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social.