City of Baltimore sues xAI, alleging Grok generates nonconsensual sexual deepfakes including images of children

What happened

On 24 March 2026 the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore sued xAI, alleging its Grok chatbot illegally generates nonconsensual sexually explicit images, including images of children, in violation of the city's consumer protection statute. The complaint, filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court, says xAI promoted Grok as a safe, general-purpose AI assistant for everyday people while Grok "flooded" X users with objectionable content, becoming one of the largest distributors of material depicting nonconsensual sexual activity and child sexual abuse despite promising it bans such content.

The complaint cites Center for Countering Digital Hate estimates that Grok generated about 3 million realistic-looking sexualized images over 11 days around the start of 2026, including more than 23,000 of children. It also includes a Grok-generated image Elon Musk shared on 31 December 2025 depicting himself in a blue string bikini, which Baltimore called a "public endorsement" of the tool's ability to generate revealing edits of real people. Mayor Brandon Scott said: "We're talking about tech companies enabling the sexual exploitation of children."

What the city asks for

Baltimore seeks an injunction requiring xAI to change Grok's "exploitative" design features, and payment of unspecified fines.

Status

The case has since moved to federal court in Maryland, where X and xAI have moved to dismiss it; Baltimore dropped SpaceX from the suit. A federal panel is due to hear arguments on 3 December 2026 on whether to centralize the federal Grok cases.

What is not established

All of the above is an allegation in a filed complaint. It has not been tested in court and no finding has been made that xAI violated the statute.