xAI sues first Grok user accused of generating illegal child sexual abuse images

Elon Musk's artificial-intelligence subsidiary xAI filed a civil complaint on Tuesday against Terry Wayne Harwood, a South Carolina man previously arrested for possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The lawsuit alleges that Harwood operated two xAI accounts for several months to generate images that removed clothing from photographs of real individuals, including a girl estimated to be about 10 years old.

According to the complaint, Harwood repeatedly prompted Grok to produce explicit depictions despite the platform’s safeguards, which sometimes blocked requests that violated its content-moderation rules. The filing states that Harwood modified his prompts to bypass those safeguards, in direct violation of xAI’s terms of service that prohibit “undressing or nudifying” real people and “sexualizing or exploiting children.”

A spokesperson for the South Carolina attorney general’s office confirmed that Harwood faces charges related to the distribution of CSAM involving an artificial-intelligence platform, though the office did not confirm that Grok was the specific tool used.

xAI’s complaint seeks to hold Harwood liable for breach of contract and to recover legal fees and potential damages, arguing that the company should not be responsible for content generated by users. The filing emphasizes that Grok is a “neutral tool, subject to user control,” and that every user agrees to a clear set of usage rules upon registration.

If the court adopts xAI’s position, the ruling could influence a pending class-action lawsuit alleging that the company failed to cooperate with law-enforcement investigations of similar abuse. The outcome may also affect how liability is assigned for AI-generated illegal content in future cases.

"Like any generative AI tool, every response, every image, every generation is the result of the user’s prompts and directions," the complaint states.

The case remains ongoing, and xAI has not responded to requests for additional comment.