Elon Musk’s artificial-intelligence startup xAI has sued a South Carolina man, Terry Harwood, for allegedly misusing the company’s AI system, Grok, to create child sexual abuse material and non-consensual sexual imagery of adults. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Texas, marks one of the first legal actions brought by an AI company against a user for generating explicit content.
xAI alleges that Harwood violated the company’s terms of service by uploading non-sexual images of adults and minors to Grok and attempting to generate sexually explicit deepfakes based on them. The complaint also states he created non-consensual sexual imagery of adults.
Harwood was arrested in February on charges of sexually exploiting minors. Contact information for him was not immediately available. xAI spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit follows scrutiny of xAI regarding allegations that Grok has enabled users to generate non-consensual sexualized deepfakes. According to the lawsuit, xAI states that it enforces its rules through account suspensions, terminations, and by reporting suspected child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
"Indeed, Plaintiff has suspended 52,222 accounts and made 73,604 reports to NCMEC in 2026, resulting in (at least) 244 arrests," the lawsuit states. The company is seeking unspecified monetary damages and a court order to permanently prevent Harwood from using Grok.
xAI described Harwood’s alleged actions as “a calculated scheme to weaponize Plaintiff’s tool for criminal ends, exposing real victims to profound and lasting harm, while exposing Plaintiff to significant legal risk and reputational damage.”