Elon Musk’s AI company xAI has filed a lawsuit against a South Carolina man it alleges used the Grok AI chatbot to generate and distribute child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The lawsuit, first reported by Reuters, names Terry Wayne Harwood as the defendant.
According to xAI, Harwood “knowingly and intentionally used Grok to circumvent safeguards, alter nonconsensual images, and generate and distribute CSAM,” in violation of the company’s policies. The lawsuit claims Harwood abused the tool to “convert non-sexual photographs into sexually explicit images” without the subjects’ consent.
Harwood was arrested in February 2026 for allegedly possessing and distributing CSAM and currently faces eight felony charges. xAI’s lawsuit states that “at least some” of the images connected to those criminal charges “were generated or altered” using Grok.
The case has roots in a broader controversy around Grok’s image capabilities. After xAI introduced a “spicy” mode and later added image editing to the chatbot, the platform was reportedly flooded with sexualized AI deepfakes, including images of minors. In March 2026, a group of teenagers sued xAI, claiming Grok had generated sexualized images of them as minors. Musk responded publicly at the time, stating that anyone using Grok to create illegal content would face the same consequences as those who upload it. The current lawsuit appears to be the first time xAI has taken legal action against a user over deepfakes created with Grok.
xAI claims Harwood’s alleged conduct exposed the company to “significant legal risk and reputational damage.” The company is asking the court to order Harwood to pay damages, cover xAI’s legal expenses related to any victim lawsuits, and be permanently barred from creating an xAI account or using Grok.
Source: The Verge