Ashley St. Clair, the Mother of Musk's 13th Child, Sues xAI Over Deepfake Images

Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Elon Musk's children, has initiated legal action against Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI. The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, claims that xAI acted negligently by allowing users of its AI tool, Grok, to generate nonconsensual deepfake images of her in sexually explicit scenarios. St. Clair alleges that her emotional well-being has been compromised due to the company’s failure to adequately address her concerns regarding these deepfakes. The case follows increasing criticism of Grok for its ability to produce nonconsensual deepfakes, which include altering images to show individuals in revealing clothing. St. Clair’s lawsuit was originally submitted to a state court in New York but was quickly moved to the federal Southern District of New York after a request from xAI. The lawsuit asserts that St. Clair had informed xAI about the inappropriate deepfake images being created, including “as a child stripped down to a string bikini” and “as an adult in sexually explicit poses.” Despite her explicit requests for Grok to prevent the generation of these images, the company allegedly continued to allow such content to be produced. According to the lawsuit, while Grok stated that “images will not be used or altered without explicit consent in any future generations or responses,” it failed to uphold this promise and retaliated against St. Clair by demonetizing her X account. On the same day as her lawsuit, xAI countered by suing St. Clair in federal court in Texas, claiming she violated its terms of service and seeking damages exceeding $75,000. This legal battle occurs amid broader concerns regarding the proliferation of sexualized AI-generated images. St. Clair's lawsuit emphasizes that Grok's functionalities are inherently flawed, as it could foresee the potential misuse of its features to create unlawful images. The claim indicates that those depicted in the generated deepfakes, including St. Clair herself, have experienced significant emotional distress. On a related note, X has recently limited the functionalities of the @Grok reply bot to restrict the generation of revealing images; however, these features still persist on the standalone Grok app and its website. Reports reveal that Grok has been producing thousands of sexualized images per hour, raising alarms among researchers and prompting scrutiny from regulatory bodies. In response to the rampant creation of nonconsensual images, several investigations are underway, including one initiated by the Attorney General of California. California's Governor Gavin Newsom criticized xAI's creation of a platform where “predators spread nonconsensual sexually explicit AI deepfakes,” describing this situation as "vile."