Mother of Elon Musk’s son sues his xAI over AI-deepfake images

Ashley St. Clair appears on CNN on January 14. (CNN via CNN Newsource)

Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Elon Musk’s children, sued Musk’s xAI on Wednesday, alleging that the company’s AI chatbot Grok generated sexually explicit deepfake images of her without her consent.

“xAI’s product Grok, a generative artificial intelligence (‘AI’) chatbot, uses AI to undress, humiliate, and sexually exploit victims,” the lawsuit, which was filed in New York, reads.

St. Clair’s lawsuit came after xAI confirmed on Wednesday that the Grok chatbot would no longer edit “images of real people in revealing clothing” on Musk’s social media platform X, following backlash after the chatbot was found to be complying with user requests to generate deepfake nude images of adults – and in some cases, children.

In the lawsuit, St. Clair, a 27-year-old writer and political commentator, alleged that this month that Grok generated and distributed “countless sexually abusive, intimate, and degrading deepfake content” of her at users’ requests, even after she publicly informed Grok that she “did not consent” to being digitally undressed.

In one instance, X users allegedly dug up photos of St. Clair fully clothed at 14 years old and requested Grok undress her, the suit alleged. The chatbot obliged, according to the suit.

xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Wednesday Musk said in a post on X that he was “not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero.” Grok “will refuse to produce anything illegal, as the operating principle for Grok is to obey the laws of any given country or state,” he added.

St. Clair is seeking a jury trial, as well as compensation, claiming emotional distress and a loss of privacy.

St. Clair and Musk have publicly sparred in the past. Earlier this week, Musk wrote on X that he plans to seek full custody of their child.

St. Clair joined CNN’s Erin Burnett Out Front on Wednesday to discuss the sexually explicit deepfakes she said Grok has created of her.

“There is really no consequences for what’s happening right now. They are not taking any measures to stop this behavior at scale,” St. Clair about xAI said during the appearance.

“Guess what? If you have to add safety after harm, that is not safety. That is simply damage control – and that’s what they’re doing right now,” she added.

By Samantha Delouya, CNN