Ashley St. Clair, the mother of Elon Musk’s child, has filed a lawsuit against his AI company xAI, alleging its Grok chatbot allowed the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images of her, causing severe emotional distress.
Legal Battle Erupts as Ashley St. Clair Sues Elon Musk’s AI Company Over Deepfakes (Source: X)
The mother of one of Elon Musk’s children has filed a lawsuit against his artificial intelligence company xAI, accusing its chatbot Grok of allowing users to create sexually explicit deepfake images of her. She said that the images have caused her deep humiliation, fear, and emotional trauma.
The mother of one of Elon Musk’s children, Ashley St. Clair is 27 years old. She is a writer and political strategist. St. Clair, who lives in New York City is the mother of Musk’s 16-month-old son, Romulus. She has filed a lawsuit against xAI for policy violation on Thursday in New York City .
St. Clair alleges that Grok, which operates on Musk’s social media platform X, was used to generate fake sexual images of her without her consent.
According to the complaint, one of the images used a real photograph of her when she was 14 years old, altering it to show her wearing a bikini. Other deepfakes allegedly portrayed her as an adult in sexualised poses, including images where she appears in a bikini marked with swastikas. St. Clair is Jewish.
St. Clair said the images have had a devastating impact on her mental health and personal safety. “I have suffered and continue to suffer serious pain and mental distress as a result of xAI’s role in creating and distributing these digitally altered images of me,” she said in a document attached to the lawsuit.
“I am humiliated and feel like this nightmare will never stop so long as Grok continues to generate these images of me.” She also said she lives in fear of people who may view or misuse the deepfake images circulating online.
St. Clair said she first reported the images to X last year and requested their removal. She claims the platform initially told her the content did not violate its policies.
Later, she says X assured her that her images would no longer be altered or used without her permission. However, she alleges that the platform then retaliated against her by:
Removing her premium X subscription
Taking away her verification checkmark
Blocking her ability to earn money from her account, which has around 1 million followers
Continuing to allow the fake images to circulate
Ashley St. Clair filed the case in state Supreme Court, seeking an undisclosed amount in damages. She is also asking the court to immediately stop xAI from allowing any further deepfake images of her.
Later the same day, lawyers for xAI moved the case to federal court in Manhattan. On Thursday as well, xAI filed a countersuit against St. Clair in federal court in Texas, arguing that she violated the company’s user agreement, which requires lawsuits to be filed in Texas federal court.
xAI is seeking an undisclosed monetary judgment against her.
Carrie Goldberg, a lawyer representing St. Clair, criticised xAI’s response, calling the countersuit highly unusual.
“Ms. St. Clair will be vigorously defending her forum in New York,” Goldberg said.
“But frankly, any jurisdiction will recognize the gravamen of Ms. St. Clair’s claims that by manufacturing nonconsensual sexually explicit images of girls and women, xAI is a public nuisance and a not reasonably safe product.”
Lawyers for xAI did not respond to requests for comment. When asked directly about the lawsuit, xAI replied only: “Legacy Media Lies.”
Earlier this week, after global criticism over sexualised images of women and children, X announced new restrictions on Grok. The company said the chatbot would no longer be able to edit images of real people into revealing clothing in places where such content is illegal.
X also said it is introducing additional safeguards, including limiting image creation and editing to paid accounts to improve accountability.
The platform said it has zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity, or unwanted sexual content, and that such material will be removed immediately and reported to law enforcement when necessary.
