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 chatbot 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 author, seeks punitive and compensatory damages. The filing alleges that dozens of sexually explicit and degrading deepfake images were created, including depictions of her in sex positions, covered in semen, virtually nude, and as a naked child. One image showed her as a 14-year-old in a string bikini, while another featured a bikini decorated with swastikas, referencing her Jewish faith.
The lawsuit states that X, the social media platform where Grok is used, financially benefited from the images and retaliated against St Clair by demonetising her account. It claims xAI had explicit knowledge that St Clair did not consent, as she had requested removal. Grok also responded to user requests to add tattoos reading 'Elon's whore' on her body.
Carrie Goldberg, St Clair's lawyer and a victims' rights specialist, said: '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 flowed from deliberate design choices enabling harassment.
In response, Musk posted that users are responsible for illegal content created with Grok, and X stated it has 'zero tolerance' for child sexual exploitation. X has countersued, arguing that St Clair must sue in Texas per its terms of service. St Clair previously told the Guardian she felt 'horrified and violated', emphasising that consent is the core issue.
