The brand of the unreal intelligence firm xAI seems on the display screen of a smartphone positioned on a floor reflecting an summary blue illustration.
Samuel Boivin | Nurphoto | Getty Pictures
Lawsuits in opposition to Elon Musk’s xAI are piling up, with Baltimore turning into the primary main U.S. metropolis to file a grievance in opposition to the corporate regarding points with its Grok picture generator.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott stated in an emailed assertion to CNBC that the deepfakes on Grok “have traumatic, lifelong penalties for victims.”
“We’re speaking about tech firms enabling the sexual exploitation of kids,” Scott wrote. “Our metropolis won’t stand by and permit this to proceed; it is a menace to privateness, dignity, and public security, and people accountable have to be held accountable.”
Now a part of SpaceX after a merger final month, xAI faces regulatory probes in a number of international locations after Grok allowed the mass creation of so-called deepfake porn based mostly on photographs of non-consenting girls and youngsters. Final week, attorneys representing three youngsters in Tennessee filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in opposition to xAI after Grok generated content material depicting them in sexualized and debasing situations.
Within the newest swimsuit, filed in a circuit court docket on March 24, the mayor and Metropolis Council of Baltimore accused xAI of violating town’s client safety legal guidelines and fascinating in misleading and unfair commerce practices, particularly by advertising and marketing Grok and X, previously often called Twitter, as typically protected for customers.
The grievance refers to a “put her in a bikini” development that inspired Grok customers to take photographs of others and nudify them. Musk, who controls SpaceX and can be CEO of Tesla, participated within the development, sharing a picture created with Grok depicting him in a string bikini.
“Musk’s submit functioned as public endorsement of Grok’s means to generate sexualized or revealing edits of actual individuals, and it signaled to customers that these makes use of of Grok had been acceptable, humorous, and inspired,” attorneys within the Baltimore grievance wrote. “Coming from the proprietor and principal public face of each [xAI] and X, Musk’s submit operated as advertising and marketing and promotion for the very image-editing functionality that was getting used to generate non-consensual sexual imagery.”
Town is looking for “the utmost quantity of statutory penalties accessible,” however didn’t record a certain amount in its grievance. It is also asking for “injunctive aid” to drive Musk’s firm to make modifications to X and Grok to curb the creation of what researchers seek advice from as non-consenting intimate photographs, or NCII, and baby sexual abuse materials, or CSAM.
Baltimore needs the court docket to order X and xAI to “stop the concentrating on and exploitation of Baltimore’s residents, … reform their exploitative platform design” and revise their advertising and marketing.
Executives at SpaceX and xAI did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
In a report printed on Tuesday, the Web Watch Basis, a U.Okay.-based charity, stated that ladies stay overwhelmingly focused by CSAM, and had been the targets of 97% of unlawful AI-generated sexualized photographs assessed by the group in 2025.
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