Musk’s xAI sues Grok user over sexualized ‘deepfakes’

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has filed a lawsuit against a South Carolina man accused of sexually exploiting minors, alleging that he misused its Grok AI system to produce child sexual abuse material.

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in a federal court in Texas, xAI accused Terry Harwood of violating the company’s terms of service by using Grok to create illegal explicit content. The case is among the first legal actions by an AI company against a user accused of abusing an AI platform to generate harmful material.

Harwood, who was arrested in February on related charges, could not immediately be reached for comment. xAI representatives also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit comes as xAI faces growing international scrutiny over claims that Grok has been used to create non-consensual sexualised deepfake images and videos.

According to xAI’s complaint, the company takes enforcement action against users who violate its policies by suspending or terminating accounts and reporting suspected child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

The company stated in its filing that it had suspended more than 52,000 accounts and submitted over 73,000 reports to NCMEC in 2026, which contributed to at least 244 arrests.

xAI alleges that Harwood uploaded non-explicit images of adults and minors to Grok and attempted to manipulate the system into generating sexually explicit deepfake content involving those individuals. The company also accused him of creating non-consensual sexual images of adults.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified financial damages and a court order permanently preventing Harwood from accessing Grok.

xAI argued that Harwood deliberately exploited its technology for criminal purposes, causing potential harm to victims while creating legal and reputational risks for the company.