Summary
Three Tennessee teenagers sued xAI, alleging the company’s image-generation tools were used to morph their real photos into sexually explicit images depicting them as minors, according to the lawsuit filed in California. The teens asked to proceed under pseudonyms and sought class-action status on behalf of other people they say were harmed in similar ways.
In the complaint, the plaintiffs describe an initial warning in December to one of the teenagers, according to the Associated Press account of the suit. They said someone was distributing sexually explicit images of her on a social media website and that multiple files — including one video and four images — used her actual face and body in settings she recognized, but placed her into sexually explicit poses.
The lawsuit alleges that the person distributing the images knew the teenager and used xAI’s image-generation tools to turn real photos of her into sexually abusive content. The Associated Press reported that the complaint said one image was taken from a homecoming photo and another was taken from a high school yearbook.
The plaintiffs also said the person behind the images created explicit images of at least 18 other girls, and two of those girls are listed as co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the report said. The Associated Press added that in late December local police arrested the perpetrator and confiscated his phone, finding that he had uploaded the images to several platforms and traded them for sexually explicit images of other minors.
The lawsuit describes xAI’s Grok chatbot and argues that while some other AI companies prohibit sexually explicit content even of adults, xAI promoted “spicy” content. The plaintiffs said there is no way, in their view, to prevent the generation of explicit images of adults while completely blocking the generation of images of children, and they alleged xAI knew Grok would be able to produce sexually explicit images of children but released it anyway.
The complaint further alleges the person who distributed the images used an application that licensed xAI technology or otherwise purchased access to Grok and functioned as a “cut-out or middleman” between the technology and the images shown to others. The plaintiffs also said they fear the images created of them will remain online indefinitely.
According to the Associated Press report, the teens said their real first names and the name of their school are attached to the files, which they say could lead to stalking. They also said classmates and friends may have seen the photos and videos and that they worry about who might view them later.
The plaintiffs described emotional harm in the lawsuit. Jane Doe 1 said she has suffered anxiety, depression and stress, with difficulty eating and sleeping and recurring nightmares, the complaint states. Jane Doe 2 said she has begun self-isolating and avoiding being on campus and even dreads attending her own graduation, while Jane Doe 3 suffers from constant fear and anxiety that someone will see the AI-generated images and recognize her face, according to the lawsuit.
xAI did not respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment. A Jan. 14 post on X said the company remains committed to making X “a safe platform for everyone,” with “zero tolerance” for child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity and unwanted sexual content, and that it takes action to remove high-priority violative content and reports certain accounts to law enforcement as necessary.