Baltimore Turns into the Newest to Sue Elon Musk's X and xAI Over Grok Deepfakes – Decrypt

Baltimore’s lawsuit in opposition to Elon Musk’s xAI and its Grok chatbot might determine how far cities can go to control synthetic intelligence within the absence of federal regulation, in response to one skilled.

The Mayor and Metropolis Council of Baltimore have sued X Corp., xAI, and SpaceX in a Maryland court docket, alleging the businesses violated native shopper safety legal guidelines by designing and deploying Grok, a generative AI system accused of manufacturing and spreading non-consensual sexualized pictures, together with of minors.

The lawsuit claims Grok permits customers to “undress” or “manipulate pictures” of actual folks with minimal prompting, exposing residents to privateness violations and psychological hurt, in response to a assertion from regulation agency DiCello Levitt, which is representing town alongside the Baltimore Metropolis Legislation Division.

“These deepfakes, particularly these depicting minors, have traumatic, lifelong penalties for victims,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott mentioned within the assertion.

The case arrives amid rising world scrutiny of Grok, together with investigations throughout the U.S., EU, France, UK, Australia, and Eire, in addition to a federal class motion filed final week by three Tennessee minors alleging the instrument generated little one sexual abuse materials utilizing their actual pictures.

“This lawsuit could be seen as a strategic transfer by a metropolis to control AI within the absence of federal laws, utilizing shopper safety and public hurt doctrines to convey AI corporations inside its enforcement ambit,” Ishita Sharma, managing companion at Fathom Authorized, instructed Decrypt.

“On legal responsibility, whereas customers prompting dangerous content material can be a part of the argument, the stronger authorized focus is prone to be on whether or not the AI system itself materially contributed,” Sharma mentioned, including that if courts view Grok “as an lively creator moderately than a passive middleman,” accountability will fall extra closely on xAI.

By design

The Baltimore go well with alleges the businesses “designed, marketed, and deployed” Grok, figuring out it might generate non-consensual intimate imagery and materials resembling little one sexual abuse content material, whereas publicly claiming such content material was prohibited.

The criticism cites estimates that Grok generated between 1.8 million and three million sexualized pictures in simply days between December 29, 2025, and January 8, 2026, together with round 23,000 depicting youngsters, in response to the Middle for Countering Digital Hate and a New York Instances evaluation.

Baltimore alleges the surge was partly triggered after Elon Musk amplified Grok’s image-editing function by responding “Excellent” to a bikini picture of himself generated by the instrument, with output rising from roughly 300,000 pictures within the 9 days earlier than his put up to just about 600,000 per day on X.

“X is now one of many largest distributors of NCII and CSAM,” the lawsuit reads, citing the defendants’ personal platform insurance policies banning such content material as proof of misleading misrepresentation.

“Proof of delayed safeguards or inaction within the face of identified dangers would strengthen claims of negligence or recklessness,” Sharma mentioned, including that dismissal of the go well with seems unlikely, with settlement essentially the most possible consequence, although the case might nonetheless lead to “a precedent-setting ruling on AI accountability.”

The town is looking for civil penalties, injunctive reduction to halt the illegal conduct, restitution for affected residents, and disgorgement of ill-gotten earnings.

Decrypt has reached out to Musk by way of xAI and SpaceX for remark.