xAI Blames Users as Grok Nudify Lawsuits Hit Three States

xAI is staring down lawsuits in three U.S. states over Grok's role in generating child sexual abuse material, according to Bloomberg. The plaintiffs allege the chatbot is directly responsible for turning photos taken of them as children into naked images. xAI has denied responsibility in each case, saying users generated those depictions, not the company — and Musk has publicly echoed that line.

In January, after reports surfaced that Grok was churning out thousands of nudified images a day, Musk posted that anyone using Grok for illegal content would face the same consequences as someone uploading illegal content. Not long after, with X apps facing a possible ban from app stores, xAI rewrote Grok's policies and usage restrictions so it could no longer produce nudified images at scale.

That reversal is central to the plaintiffs' argument: xAI could throttle the feature whenever it chose. The company first refused to restrict Grok on free speech grounds, landing on user autonomy as its legal defense.

xAI has also gone on offense against laws aimed at the same material. Reuters reported last month that the company blocked Minnesota's proposed ban on AI-generated naked images by arguing it was unconstitutional and trampled free speech rights — making xAI the only provider actively fighting the measure.

Meanwhile, xAI has repeatedly promoted Grok's knack for what it calls spicy content in its unhinged mode, and it has rolled out companion chatbots built for NSFW chats. xAI is betting it can dodge liability for use that goes past its stated parameters. The plaintiffs in all three states want courts to pin the fault on xAI rather than the users typing the prompts.

A ruling against xAI would set fresh precedent for image generation across the AI industry.