xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk, has filed motions with a federal court in northern California to force the disclosure of the real names of four individuals who allege they were victims of deepfake sexualized images created using Grok, according to court documents. The company argues that the use of pseudonyms in the case undermines judicial transparency and that revealing the plaintiffs' identities is in the public interest. The four plaintiffs, who are currently identified as South Carolina Doe, South Carolina Roe, New Jersey Doe, and Ohio Doe, have been using pseudonyms to protect their privacy and avoid further online harassment, the documents state.
The lawsuit, which was initially filed in January with one pseudonymous plaintiff, was refiled in May with four main plaintiffs. The plaintiffs claim they were subjected to severe emotional distress after the alleged deepfakes were created earlier this year. One of the plaintiffs, South Carolina Doe, described finding an image of themselves 'stripped down to a revealing bikini' online, which they say shows their body in a way they would never share publicly. They also expressed fear that revealing their name could lead to doxing and retaliation from supporters of Musk and his companies. Other plaintiffs described experiencing 'severe emotional distress,' embarrassment, and shock at seeing the images created without their consent.
The case has drawn attention due to the widespread use of Grok in creating sexualized deepfake images. In January, the Musk-owned chatbot sparked global outrage as users generated fake images of women 'undressed' and in bikinis, with some images including sexualized depictions of children. Analysis by the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that Grok was used to create around 3 million sexualized images over 11 days, with 23,000 potentially involving children. Facing lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny, SpaceX, which owns xAI, has allocated over $500 million to address the fallout from these incidents.
Source: wired
