Ashley St. Clair, the mom of Elon Musk’s son Romulus, is suing xAI over alleged sexually exploitative deepfake photos created through the corporate’s Grok chatbot, with xAI countersuing the identical day
An in depth-up view of a smartphone display screen displaying the “Grok” app brand (Picture: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek through Getty Pictures)
The mom of one among Elon Musk’s kids is taking authorized motion towards his AI firm following the alleged creation of sexually specific deepfake photos of her.
Ashley St. Clair, 27, claims the agency’s Grok chatbot enabled customers to supply sexually exploitative deepfake photos of her, inflicting her vital humiliation and emotional misery.
Describing herself as a author and political strategist, the allegations outlined in a lawsuit lodged on Thursday in New York Metropolis towards xAI state that the photographs included {a photograph} of her totally clothed at age 14 which was manipulated to depict her in a bikini, alongside others exhibiting her as an grownup in sexualised poses and sporting a bikini emblazoned with swastikas. St. Clair is Jewish.
Grok operates on Musk’s social media platform X. Authorized representatives for xAI didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon Friday, The Related Press studies.
On Wednesday, following worldwide outcry over sexualised photos of girls and kids, X introduced that Grok would now not be permitted to edit pictures to painting actual people in revealing clothes, in jurisdictions the place that is prohibited.
When questioned in regards to the lawsuit and its claims, xAI responded solely with “Legacy Media Lies” in an electronic mail to The Related Press.
St. Clair said she reported the deepfakes to X after they began showing final yr and requested their elimination. She stated the platform initially responded that the photographs didn’t breach its insurance policies.
It then pledged to not permit photos of her for use or altered with out her consent, she stated. St Clair claimed the social media platform subsequently retaliated by stripping her of her premium X subscription and verification tick, stopping her from monetising her account, which boasts 1 million followers, while persevering with to allow degrading fabricated photos of her to flow into.
“I’ve suffered and proceed to endure severe ache and psychological misery because of xAI’s function in creating and distributing these digitally altered photos of me,” she said in paperwork accompanying the lawsuit. “I’m humiliated and really feel like this nightmare won’t ever cease as long as Grok continues to generate these photos of me.”
FILE – Elon Musk attends a information convention with President Donald Trump within the Oval Workplace of the White Home, Might 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Picture/Evan Vucci, file) (Picture: AP)
She additionally revealed she lives in concern of those that view the deepfakes of her.
St Clair is the mom of Musk’s 16-month-old son, Romulus. She resides in New York Metropolis, the place she lodged the lawsuit in state Supreme Courtroom.
She is pursuing an unspecified sum in damages for alleged infliction of emotional misery and different claims, alongside courtroom orders instantly prohibiting xAI from allowing additional deepfakes of her.
In a while Thursday, authorized representatives for xAI transferred the lawsuit to federal courtroom in Manhattan, requesting a choose hear the case there. That very same day, xAI additionally filed a countersuit towards St Clair in federal courtroom within the Northern District of Texas, alleging she breached the phrases of her xAI person settlement which requires lawsuits towards the corporate be filed in federal courtroom in Texas.
A hand is holding a smartphone displaying the “Grok” brand on a vibrant, colourful background. (Picture: Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Pictures/LightRocket through Getty Pictures)
It’s in search of an unspecified monetary judgment towards her. X is headquartered in Texas, the place Musk maintains a residence and his electrical automobile producer Tesla relies in Austin.
Carrie Goldberg, representing St. Clair, described the countersuit as a “jolting” tactic she had by no means witnessed from a defendant beforehand. “Ms. St. Clair will likely be vigorously defending her discussion board in New York,” Goldberg said.
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“However frankly, any jurisdiction will acknowledge the gravamen of Ms. St. Clair’s claims – that by manufacturing nonconsensual sexually specific photos of women and girls, xAI is a public nuisance and a not moderately secure product.”
In its Wednesday announcement, X confirmed it was introducing extra protections on Grok, together with limiting picture creation and enhancing to paying subscribers, which it claimed would improve accountability. The platform said it maintained zero tolerance for baby sexual exploitation, nonconsensual nudity and undesirable sexual content material, pledging to instantly delete such materials and report accounts distributing baby intercourse abuse content material to authorities.
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