Three Tennessee Teens File Class Action Against Elon Musk's xAI Over AI-Generated CSAM by Grok's 'Spicy Mode'

On March 16, 2026, three teenage girls from Tennessee filed a class-action lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI in the Northern District of California. The complaint alleges that xAI's generative AI tool Grok was used to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from the plaintiffs' real photographs.

Law firms Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and Baehr-Jones Law assert that xAI knowingly designed, marketed, and profited from Grok's ability to generate sexually explicit content without implementing industry-standard safety measures. Of particular concern is the 'Spicy Mode' feature, which Musk himself promoted on his social media platform X, leading to a viral trend of digitally 'undressing' real women and children.

According to a study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, during an 11-day period in late December 2025 and early January 2026, Grok generated approximately three million sexualized images and 23,000 images depicting apparent children. Rather than disabling this feature, xAI allegedly restricted it to paying subscribers as a premium feature and licensed its Grok model to third-party apps, profiting from CSAM creation.

The perpetrator who created and distributed the images of the plaintiffs has been arrested. The lawsuit seeks damages, punitive damages, and injunctive relief on behalf of a class of thousands of minors whose images were similarly misused. This case could set an important legal precedent regarding AI-generated content safety and corporate responsibility, with significant implications for the entire AI industry.