Baltimore Becomes the Latest to Sue Elon Musk's X and xAI Over Grok Deepfakes
Baltimore is suing Elon Musk’s companies—X Corp., xAI, and SpaceX—alleging that their Grok AI chatbot violates local consumer protection laws by generating and distributing non-consensual sexualized images, including deepfakes of minors. The lawsuit claims Grok allows users to produce manipulated, explicit images with little effort, leading to privacy violations and psychological harm. The city argues that Musk’s public promotion of Grok contributed to a dramatic surge in such content. From late December 2025 to early January 2026, Grok allegedly created up to 3 million sexualized images—including about 23,000 of children—according to external analyses. Baltimore accuses the companies of knowingly deploying Grok despite its risks, misrepresenting its safeguards, and violating their own content policies. The suit seeks civil penalties, restitution, a halt to the offending practices, and forfeiture of profits. Legal experts note that the case could set an important precedent for how cities regulate AI in the absence of federal law, with the main legal question being whether the AI itself can be held liable as an active creator. Settlement is seen as likely, but a precedent-setting ruling is possible.
