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.
The suit, filed in a federal court Tuesday in Texas, alleges Terry Wayne Harwood had at least two Grok accounts using false identities to create and distribute explicit material.
Harwood allegedly uploaded nonsexual images of multiple adults and minors and attempted to use Grok to depict the people 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 girl who appeared to be about 10 or 11 years old and asked Grok to generate sexualized images of them.
