Elon Musk’s xAI has sued a user of its Grok AI chatbot, alleging that the U.S.-based man misused the technology and violated the Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy in order to create sexual deepfakes and child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
xAI sued South Carolina resident Terry Wayne Harwood, 67, who had been already arrested over child sexual exploitation charges in February
According to the lawsuit, Mr. Harwood “designed misleading prompts to circumvent Grok’s built-in safeguards and then abused the tool to convert non-sexual photographs into sexually explicit images without the photograph subjects’ knowledge or consent.”
The likenesses of minor children were also used to create “obscene images,” per the lawsuit.
xAI’s lawsuit indicates that it will take action against users who misuse Grok, rather than treating Grok and its inadequate safeguards as the source of AI-generated sexual deepfakes.
Other affected people have alleged that Mr. Musk himself promoted Grok’s ability to create erotic content depicting almost nude (non-existing) women.
Early in July, a group of five anonymous girls and women sued xAI and Stability AI, alleging that the companies’ technology allowed sex predators to create child sexual abuse material out of their non-explicit, childhood photos.
The anonymous individuals shared their emotional distress after learning of the alleged crimes, with some expressing fear that sex predators trafficking their images online could even stalk them offline, while others felt it was a struggle to return to normal life.
Published - July 16, 2026 11:10 am IST