A lawsuit has been filed against Elon Musk’s AI company by the mother of one of his children, alleging the release of sexually explicit deepfake images. Ashley St. Clair, aged 27, claims that the company’s Grok chatbot allowed users to create such images of her, causing her significant distress. The lawsuit, filed in New York City against xAI, states that the images included manipulated photos of her as a minor and as an adult in sexualized poses. St. Clair, who identifies as a writer and political strategist, is of Jewish descent.
Following global criticism over sexualized images, Musk’s social media platform X announced restrictions on Grok’s ability to alter photos depicting real individuals in revealing attire. In response to the lawsuit’s allegations, xAI only replied with “Legacy Media Lies.” St. Clair reported the deepfakes to X, but after initially claiming no policy violation, the platform agreed not to allow unauthorized use or alteration of her images. However, she alleges that X retaliated by downgrading her account privileges and permitting more degrading fake images.
St. Clair, the mother of Musk’s 16-month-old son, Romulus, resides in New York City and is seeking damages for emotional distress and other claims, along with court orders to prevent further deepfakes of her. The lawsuit was transferred to federal court in Manhattan by xAI, which also countersued St. Clair in Texas, accusing her of breaching the user agreement. Carrie Goldberg, St. Clair’s lawyer, criticized the countersuit, emphasizing the seriousness of St. Clair’s claims against xAI.
X, headquartered in Texas, where Musk’s Tesla is based, announced additional measures to enhance accountability for Grok, including restricting image manipulation to paid accounts. The platform emphasized a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and vowed to promptly remove offensive content.