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xAI sues Grok user over sexualized deepfake images
xAI has sued a 67-year-old South Carolina man it says used Grok to generate nonconsensual sexualized images of adults and children.
Image: Engadget
xAI has sued Terry Wayne Harwood, a 67-year-old man from South Carolina, accusing him of using Grok to create nonconsensual sexualized images of real adults and children.
In a complaint filed in Texas, xAI said Harwood uploaded non-sexual images of numerous adults and minors to two xAI accounts between December 8, 2025 and February 18, 2026. According to the lawsuit, he then asked Grok to alter those photos or generate new images and videos depicting the people in them “in a pornographic manner or otherwise sexualizing them.”
xAI said Grok refused those prompts on numerous occasions, but Harwood repeatedly edited and resubmitted requests in an attempt to bypass the system’s safeguards. In one example cited in the filing, the company said Harwood uploaded a photo of a fully dressed girl around 10 to 11 years old and asked Grok to remove her clothing and make her do a “Playboy model impression” while lying in bed. The lawsuit says Grok refused, but Harwood kept submitting modified requests.
According to Reuters, the case is one of the first lawsuits an AI company has brought against one of its own users, signaling that xAI is willing to pursue legal action over misuse of Grok.
Reports began surfacing in early January that Grok allowed users to turn photos of real women and children into sexualized images. Formal investigations followed quickly: California opened an inquiry in mid-January, while UK regulator Ofcom, the European Commission, and Ireland’s Data Protection Commission also launched probes.
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xAI said it introduced new measures to block nonconsensual sexual deepfakes once those investigations began. But the source says users could still use Grok to undress men, and Harwood allegedly continued uploading images and generating sexualized edits.
Harwood was arrested on March 9, according to the South Carolina Attorney General’s office, as part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. He was charged with:
- three counts of second degree sexual exploitation of a minor
- five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in the third degree
The article says Harwood did not just possess child sexual abuse material, but also distributed it. xAI is seeking an unspecified amount in monetary damages and wants the court to require Harwood to cover any costs the company incurs defending itself in legal actions that may be brought by his alleged victims.
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Sophia unpacks the invisible wars happening on our networks. Covering cybersecurity, privacy legislation, and cryptography, she exposes how our data is weaponized and defended. Before joining for(geeks), she spent years as a penetration tester. She's the reason the rest of the team uses physical security keys.
via Engadget
