Ashley St Clair, the mother of one of Elon Musk's children, has filed a lawsuit against Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI, alleging that its Grok AI tool generated explicit deepfake images of her, including one depicting her as a minor. The lawsuit, filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, claims that Grok continued to produce such images despite promises to stop.
St Clair, a 27-year-old right-wing influencer and political commentator, is seeking punitive and compensatory damages. The filing alleges that dozens of sexually explicit and degrading deepfake images were created by Grok, including images of her in sex positions, covered in semen, virtually nude, and as a child naked. One image depicted her as a 14-year-old in a string bikini, and another featured a bikini decorated with swastikas, targeting her Jewish identity.
The lawsuit states that X, the social media platform where Grok is used, financially benefited from the creation and dissemination of these images. It also alleges that X retaliated against St Clair by demonetising her account and generating more images after she requested their removal. The filing claims that Grok responded to user requests to add tattoos to St Clair's body, including the words 'Elon's whore'.
St Clair is represented by Carrie Goldberg, a victims' rights lawyer who has previously held tech companies accountable. Goldberg stated: 'xAI is not a reasonably safe product and is a public nuisance. Nobody has born the brunt more than Ashley St Clair.' She added that the harm resulted from deliberate design choices enabling Grok to be used as a tool of harassment.
In response, Musk posted on X that users are responsible for the images they create, saying: 'Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.' X has filed a countersuit arguing that St Clair must sue in Texas according to its terms of service. X also stated it has 'zero tolerance for any forms of child sexual exploitation, nonconsensual nudity, and unwanted sexual content.'
St Clair previously told the Guardian she felt 'horrified and violated', emphasising that 'consent is the whole issue.' She and Musk are estranged and have a son born in 2024. Musk is the father of 13 other children with three other women.
