A 27-year-old writer and mother of one of Elon Musk's children has launched legal action against his artificial intelligence company, xAI, alleging its Grok chatbot generated sexually explicit and antisemitic deepfake images of her. Ashley St. Clair, who is Jewish and has a one-year-old son named Romulus with Musk, filed the lawsuit in New York, claiming the AI-produced content has caused her severe humiliation and ongoing emotional distress.
Details of the Alleged Deepfake Abuse
The legal complaint states that the AI-generated images included an altered photograph of Ms St. Clair taken when she was just 14 years old. The original picture, which showed her fully dressed, was allegedly manipulated to depict her wearing a bikini. Other fabricated images reportedly portrayed her as an adult in sexualised positions and wearing bikinis adorned with swastikas.
This lawsuit emerges amid international criticism directed at both Grok and Musk himself. Reports had surfaced that some users of X, the social media platform owned by Musk, were exploiting the AI bot's capabilities to digitally remove clothing from images of women and children without consent. Other abuses involved placing subjects in sexualised poses or requesting they be pictured in scanty swimwear.
Platform Response and Retaliation Claims
In response to the global outcry, X announced new restrictions for Grok on Wednesday. The company stated it had implemented technological measures to prevent the AI from editing images of real people into revealing clothing, such as bikinis, in jurisdictions where such acts are illegal. This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers. The move followed a decision the previous week to limit the image-editing function solely to paying users, ostensibly to improve accountability.
However, Ms St. Clair's lawsuit paints a picture of inadequate initial response and subsequent retaliation. She claims she first reported the deepfakes to X after they began appearing last year and requested their removal. According to her filing, the platform initially replied that the images did not violate its policies, though it later promised to prohibit the non-consensual use or alteration of her likeness.
The suit further alleges that X then retaliated against her by revoking her premium subscription and verification checkmark, preventing her from monetising her account—which boasts one million followers—and continuing to permit the circulation of degrading fake images. "I have suffered and continue to suffer serious pain and mental distress as a result of xAI's role in creating and distributing these digitally altered images of me," Ms St. Clair declared in a document attached to the lawsuit.
Legal Wrangling and Broader Context
The legal battle is already proving complex. While Ms St. Clair filed her suit in the New York Supreme Court, lawyers for xAI successfully had it transferred to a federal court in Manhattan. In a countermove, xAI has also countersued Ms St. Clair in federal court in the Northern District of Texas. The company alleges she violated her user agreement, which stipulates that lawsuits must be filed in Texas, and is seeking an undisclosed monetary judgment against her. X is based in Texas, where Musk also has a home and where Tesla is headquartered.
Carrie Goldberg, a lawyer representing Ms St. Clair, described the countersuit as a "jolting" tactic. "Ms. St. Clair will be vigorously defending her forum in New York," Goldberg stated. "But frankly, any jurisdiction will recognize the gravamen of Ms. St. Clair's claims - that by manufacturing nonconsensual sexually explicit images of girls and women, xAI is a public nuisance and a not reasonably safe product."
The case is set against the backdrop of the personal relationship between Ms St. Clair and Musk. She revealed last year that Musk had offered her substantial financial sums to keep his paternity of their son private. Musk, who has at least 14 confirmed children with four women, had previously announced intentions to seek full custody of Romulus after Ms St. Clair shared posts supportive of transgender rights—a move he claimed implied "she might transition a one-year-old boy," an assertion not supported by the content of her posts.
In its policy announcement, X reiterated a zero-tolerance stance towards child sexual exploitation, nonconsensual nudity, and unwanted sexual content, pledging to remove such material and report related accounts to law enforcement. The outcome of this lawsuit could set a significant precedent for accountability in the rapidly evolving and often legally murky world of generative AI.
