Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup, xAI, has filed a federal lawsuit in Texas against a South Carolina man for allegedly misusing its Grok AI system to create child sexual abuse material. This marks one of the first legal actions by an AI company against a user for generating explicit content.
The lawsuit alleges Terry Harwood, who was arrested in February on separate exploitation charges, violated xAI's terms of service. The complaint states he uploaded non-sexual images of adults and minors to Grok and attempted to generate sexually explicit deepfakes.
The case follows global scrutiny of xAI over allegations that Grok allows users to create non-consensual sexualized deepfakes. The company claims it aggressively enforces its rules, reporting illicit material to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. In its legal filing, xAI stated it had suspended over 52,000 accounts and filed more than 73,000 reports to NCMEC in 2026.
xAI is seeking unspecified damages and a permanent injunction blocking Harwood from using Grok. The company described his actions as a "calculated scheme to weaponize Plaintiff’s tool for criminal ends."