In mid-August, a Wyoming woman identified in court filings as Jane Doe 4 joined the class-action lawsuit against Musk’s company xAI. She alleges that her stepfather took an ordinary photo of her when she was eleven and used Grok to create more than seven thousand sexually explicit images, which he then shared online. Police seized his equipment during a search of his home, and two days later he was found dead after taking his own life.
The woman said that unrestricted access to these tools is spreading very quickly and turning ordinary life into material for child abuse. The court has not yet ruled on anything; these are allegations made in the lawsuit.
There Are Many More Victims
The original lawsuit was filed by three girls from Tennessee on March 16 of this year in federal court in California. Their story is in many ways typical. The perpetrator did not need any sensitive or stolen private images. Ordinary yearbook photos, prom pictures, and images from social media profiles were enough.
According to the filing, one of the perpetrators had a close and friendly relationship with one of the victims. In addition to the three girls bringing the lawsuit, he created sexually explicit images of at least eighteen other girls. Local police arrested him last December and discovered on his phone that he had uploaded the images to several platforms, where he traded them for similar material from other people.
The lawsuit seeks class-action status, which would mean that anyone identifiable in images created this way could join it. It is estimated that thousands of minors may be affected. The document contains thirteen counts, ranging from the distribution of child pornography to the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Why Sue the Company and Not Just the Perpetrator?
This is the core of the entire dispute and is worth examining because it may not make sense at first glance. The images were created by specific individuals, who themselves bear criminal responsibility. But the plaintiffs allege that the company deliberately omitted standard safeguards. Other major labs prohibit their programs from creating any sexually explicit content, including content involving adults. According to the lawsuit, Musk saw a business opportunity in this and publicly boasted that his program offered a so-called spicy mode. This allegedly directly encouraged users to try generating similar images.
According to the lawsuit, there is currently no way to permit the creation of sexually explicit images of adults while completely preventing images of children from being created. The plaintiffs therefore allege that the company knew what would happen and released the program anyway.
The third point concerns how the technology reached the perpetrators. In neither case did they use the Grok app itself or the X network. They turned to third-party apps that had licensed xAI’s technology, often from operators outside the United States. According to the lawsuit, licensing the technology abroad was a way for the company to shift responsibility for a dangerous tool onto someone else.
And why does SpaceX appear in articles about the case? Because xAI is linked to Musk’s space company through personnel and ownership. The lawsuit is therefore being brought against a business that most people know for its rockets.
What the Company Did and Why It Is Not Enough
Some action was taken. Following a wave of criticism in January, when the X network was flooded with millions of sexually explicit images created by the program, the company announced that it would block edits placing real people in revealing clothing. The second measure concerned the creation of such images, but only in countries where doing so is illegal.
This is precisely what critics object to most. The restriction applied only to some content and part of the world, and it came only after the problem had grown to enormous proportions. At the same time, the company repeatedly failed to respond to journalists’ questions about the individual lawsuits.
But it cannot avoid the issue forever. California Attorney General Rob Bonta launched an investigation, stating that the company was creating non-consensual sexually explicit images of women and children. Two countries have blocked the X network entirely over similar content, while others have launched their own investigations.
The Number of Cases Is Growing
Since the spring, the lawsuit has expanded to include Stability AI. Another case involves families in Arkansas. According to police, a local photographer used the same program to transform ordinary photographs of his underage clients into sexually explicit material. During a search, police found around 1,700 such files in his possession. The families are now suing the company as well.
In addition to these cases, there is also a lawsuit brought by influencer Ashley St. Clair, who has a child with Musk. She sued the company over images depicting her naked when she was a minor.
Attorney Vanessa Baehr-Jones, who represents the girls from Tennessee, wants to change how companies make decisions about sexually explicit content and bring them to the point where such conduct is no longer profitable.
Source: washingtonpost.com
