Baltimore is first U.S. city to sue over Grok deepfake porn as legal pressure mounts on Musk's xAI

Lawsuits against Elon Musk's xAI are piling up, with Baltimore becoming the first major U.S. city to file a complaint against the company concerning issues with its Grok image generator. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in an emailed statement to CNBC that the deepfakes on Grok "have traumatic, lifelong consequences for victims." "We're talking about tech companies enabling the sexual exploitation of children," Scott wrote. "Our city will not stand by and allow this to continue; it's a threat to privacy, dignity, and public safety, and those responsible must be held accountable." Now part of SpaceX after a merger last month, xAI faces regulatory probes in several countries after Grok allowed the mass creation of so-called deepfake porn based on images of non-consenting women and children. Last week, attorneys representing three teenagers in Tennessee filed a proposed class action lawsuit against xAI after Grok generated content depicting them in sexualized and debasing scenarios. In the latest suit, filed in a circuit court on March 24, the mayor and city council of Baltimore accused xAI of violating the city's consumer protection laws and engaging in deceptive and unfair trade practices, namely by marketing Grok and X, formerly known as Twitter, as generally safe for users. The complaint refers to a "put her in a bikini" trend that encouraged Grok users to take photos of others and nudify them. Musk, who controls SpaceX and is also CEO of Tesla , participated in the trend, sharing an image created with Grok depicting him in a string bikini. Read more CNBC tech news Amazon's Zoox to debut robotaxis in Austin, Miami later this year as it awaits paid ride approval OpenAI calls out Microsoft reliance as risk in investor document ahead of expected IPO Amazon faces further AWS disruption in the Middle East from Iran conflict OpenAI's data center pivot underscores Wall Street spending concerns ahead of IPO "Musk's post functioned as public endorsement of Grok's ability ...