LCHB Files Class Action obo Minor Victims Alleging xAI’s Grok Generated and Profited from AI Sexual Exploitation Images and Videos

Lieff Cabraser’s lawsuit alleges xAI knowingly designed, marketed, and profited from an AI image generator used to create and distribute child sexual abuse material (CSAM) deepfakes of real children, including through third-party app licensing.

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and Baehr-Jones Law filed a class action lawsuit today in the Northern District of California against xAI on behalf of three victims whose real photographs were used to produce AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) through xAI’s Grok tool. The complaint alleges that xAI knowingly designed, marketed, and profited from an AI image and video generator capable of creating sexually explicit content depicting real people, including children, while refusing to implement the industry-standard CSAM prevention measures used by every other major AI company.

The lawsuit details how xAI, under the direction of Elon Musk, deliberately designed Grok to create sexually explicit content, marketed a “Spicy Mode” to attract users, and configured the model’s system prompt to assume “good intent” when users referenced “teenage” or “girl.” Musk personally popularized and promoted Grok’s ability to undress people on X, fueling a viral trend in which users directed Grok to digitally undress real women and children. During an eleven-day period in late December 2025 and early January 2026, researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate estimated Grok generated approximately three million sexualized images and 23,000 images depicting apparent children.

After this was revealed, rather than disabling the feature, xAI restricted image generation to paying subscribers, and advertised “Spicy Mode” as a premium benefit. The complaint further alleges that xAI licenses access to its Grok AI model to third-party apps, using xAI servers and platforms to produce CSAM content requested by these apps’ customers, as an additional source of xAI profit. The Internet Watch Foundation has warned that many of these images have since migrated to the dark web, where they are being repurposed by predators.

In this case, the plaintiffs learned that a perpetrator—who has since been arrested—used their real photographs to generate sexually explicit, hyperrealistic AI images and videos of them using xAI’s technology available through an app on his phone. In some instances, the perpetrator accessed these photographs on social media. The perpetrator also enticed one victim to send him real photographs of herself. The perpetrator then distributed the CSAM on Discord, Telegram, and the file-sharing platform Mega, trading the AI-generated images of these girls for sexually explicit content of other minors.

The mother of Jane Doe 2 shared, “Watching my daughter have a panic attack after realizing that these images were created and distributed without any hope of recalling them was heartbreaking. Her excitement about all that she would experience over her senior year—her Spring formal, her graduation, and her senior trip—now comes with the fear anything she shares will be used and manipulated again. What should be the most exciting time in her life is now completely tainted. How many victims will it take for the creators of this AI technology to understand that safeguards are necessary?”

All three plaintiffs’ CSAM files have been entered into a national database managed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). For the rest of their lives, they will receive notifications every time their images are identified in a criminal case—each one a fresh wave of trauma. One plaintiff suffers from recurring nightmares and has needed academic accommodations. Another cannot sleep without medical intervention and dreads attending her own graduation.

“These are children whose school photographs and family pictures were turned into child sexual abuse material by a billion-dollar company’s AI tool and then traded among predators. Elon Musk and xAI deliberately designed Grok to produce sexually explicit content for financial gain, with no regard for the children and adults who would be harmed by it,” said Annika K. Martin, a partner at Lieff Cabraser. “Without xAI, this harmful, illegal content could never, and would never, have existed. The lives of these girls have been shattered by the devastating loss of privacy and the deep sense of violation that no child should ever have to experience. We intend to hold xAI accountable for every child they harmed in this way.”

“xAI chose to profit off the sexual predation of real people, including children, despite knowing full well the consequences of creating such a dangerous product,” explained Vanessa Baehr-Jones of Baehr-Jones Law. “No one should have to live with the fear that these survivors now carry with them, but I am inspired by their strength and clarity of purpose in bringing this lawsuit on behalf of themselves and other minors in the Class. These survivors are heroes and will not stop until they achieve justice for all those harmed by xAI.”

The lawsuit brings claims under Masha’s Law, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and California state law, and seeks damages, punitive damages, and injunctive relief. The case is brought as a class action on behalf of all persons in the United States who had real images of themselves as minors altered by Grok to produce digitally altered, sexualized images or videos with their faces and other identifiable features. The class consists of thousands of minors.

For a copy of the complaint or to speak with lead counsel Annika K. Martin or co-counsel Vanessa Baehr-Jones, please contact Hannah Gallagher at hannah@rebuttalpr.com

About Lieff Cabraser

Founded in 1972, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein is one of the largest law firms in the United States that exclusively represents plaintiffs. With more than 135 attorneys across offices in San Francisco, New York, Nashville, and Munich, the firm has recovered over $133 billion in verdicts and settlements for clients harmed by corporate misconduct. Lieff Cabraser has served as court-appointed lead or class counsel in some of the most consequential civil cases in the country, spanning product liability, data privacy, consumer protection, antitrust, environmental catastrophes, and civil rights. The firm currently serves as co-lead counsel for plaintiffs in the nationwide multidistrict litigation against Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube over the platforms’ role in fueling youth mental health harms. Lieff Cabraser has championed the rights of children, abuse survivors, and communities targeted by dangerous products for more than five decades. Learn more at www.lieffcabraser.com.

About Baehr-Jones Law

Baehr-Jones Law represents survivors of sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking. Founder Vanessa Baehr-Jones spent nearly a decade as a federal prosecutor trying child sex offense and human trafficking cases before opening her practice in Oakland, California to advocate for survivors in civil litigation. She is a graduate of UCLA School of Law, a former clerk on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and a member of the National Crime Victims Bar Association. Learn more at www.advocatesforsurvivors.com.