Elon Musk has found himself in the hot seat with a lawsuit from the city of Baltimore. The city of Baltimore sued Elon Musk’s xAI on Tuesday, claiming its Grok chatbot illegally generates nonconsensual sexually explicit images, including of children.
“We’re talking about tech companies enabling the sexual exploitation of children,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement. “It’s a threat to privacy, dignity and public safety, and those responsible must be held accountable.”
As per Reuters, Baltimore, with a population of about 568,000, is the largest city to sue xAI over “deepfakes” attributed to Grok, its lawyers said.
READ: Grok faces backlash across UK, EU and India over sexualized content (January 7, 2026)
Baltimore’s complaint asserts that Grok produced and distributed harmful images without consent and that xAI misrepresented the safety of its product while failing to prevent the creation of this content. The lawsuit claims the conduct violates Maryland’s consumer protection laws and seeks changes to the system’s design as well as potential penalties.
Grok, developed by Musk’s xAI and deployed on the X social media platform, combines generative AI with image editing tools. Since mid‑2025, there have been widespread reports that users could ask Grok to manipulate photos of real people into sexualized or “nudified” deepfake images, including requests targeting women, girls, and other individuals without their permission. This feature drew global criticism, regulatory scrutiny, and additional legal actions, including lawsuits by Tennessee minors alleging that Grok produced explicit images of them.
As per Reuters, the complaint includes a Grok-generated image that Musk shared on December 31, 2025, depicting the 54-year-old in a blue string bikini with Baltimore calling it a “public endorsement” of Grok’s ability to generate revealing edits of real people.
READ: Meta data shows 19% of young teens on Instagram encounter unwanted explicit images (February 24, 2026)
The lawsuit from Baltimore underscores the increasing legal and regulatory risks faced by Elon Musk and xAI in the rapidly evolving AI sector. Generative AI technologies such as Grok offer powerful capabilities, but they also raise serious ethical, legal, and societal questions, particularly when misused to produce non-consensual sexualized content. For Musk, this case represents not only potential financial liability but also reputational risk, as public perception of AI safety and corporate responsibility comes under scrutiny.
The legal action highlights the challenges companies face in balancing innovation with user protection. Grok’s controversy demonstrates that AI platforms, especially those integrated with large social networks, can quickly become vectors for harm if safeguards are inadequate or enforcement mechanisms are weak. Regulators and municipalities may increasingly view technology executives as accountable for the downstream consequences of AI-generated content, creating precedent for future litigation.