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Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence firm xAI is suing a South Carolina man, accusing him of using its generative chatbot Grok to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
The suit, filed in a federal court in Texas Tuesday, alleges Terry Wayne Harwood had at least two Grok accounts using false identifies to create and distribute explicit material.
Harwood allegedly uploaded non-sexual images of multiple adults and minors and attempted to use Grok to depict the individuals in a “pornographic manner or otherwise sexualizing them.”
“His conduct was knowing, intentional, and calculated,” xAI’s attorneys wrote, adding Harwood’s actions were a “scheme to weaponize” the AI firm’s tool for “criminal ends, exposing real victims to profound and lasting harm” and xAI to “significant legal risk and reputational damage.”
In one instance, Harwood allegedly uploaded a picture of a fully dressed female who appeared to be about 10 or 11 years old, and asked Grok to generate sexualized images of them.
Contact information for Harwood or his attorneys was not immediately available.
xAI said its reporting of the accounts played a role in Harwood’s arrest in South Carolina last March. The firm is now asking the court for relief to prevent Harwood from creating new accounts or circumventing the firm’s rules for Grok use, and monetary damages.
The AI firm, which was acquired by Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX earlier this year, faced scrutiny earlier this year over Grok’s alleged sexual abuse content. The firm has faced its own legal challenges over the chatbot. In March, three Tennessee teenagers sued the firm, alleging their photographs were used for Grok to create CSAM.
Amid the backlash, Musk in January said he was unaware of any instances in which Grok generated nude photos of minors. The tech billionaire said Grok does not product illegal material, regardless of user requests, and said any bugs encountered are quickly fixed.
xAI limited Grok’s image and video editing and generation capabilities to paid subscribers to X Premium+ or SuperGrok.
The firm, in the suit against Harwood, maintained it enforces rules against violators through account suspensions or terminations and reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. xAI has suspended more than 52,200 accounts and made 73,600 reports to NCMEC this year, according to the suit.
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