AI company sues photographer while families sue the company

Elon Musk's AI company xAI has become a party to two related cases in Arkansas in the US. The company has sued a photographer itself, and at the same time it has been sued by a family whose daughter is depicted in illegal material made with the Grok chatbot.

The charges against the photographer

Photographer Russell Bloodworth, 43, of Bentonville is charged with 100 counts of possession of child pornography and 100 counts of unlawfully creating deepfake material. That is 200 counts in total. A deepfake is a fake image or video that looks real but is made with a computer. He has pleaded not guilty, and the case has not been resolved. The next court hearing was reported to be set for September 21.

According to KATV, X sent a so-called cybertip to police in Bentonville on June 8. A detective then found images of a prepubescent girl that had been altered with Grok using commands to remove her clothes. Bloodworth had taken the original photos for a local school, where he taught a summer course.

During a search of his home, authorities found about 1,700 images and videos on his phone, according to police. Much of the material was made with Grok from photos of his minor clients, police said. The sources disagree on the dates of the arrest and the search, so the timing is uncertain.

xAI takes legal action

xAI has filed a lawsuit against Bloodworth. The company alleges that he repeatedly sent specially crafted commands to get around Grok's safety filters.

The family sues xAI

Parents who appear anonymously as John and Jane Roe filed a lawsuit against xAI in July 2026 in the federal court in Little Rock. They are represented by Potts Law Firm. The parents claim that xAI should have foreseen that users could misuse Grok to create images without consent. They allege that the company marketed Grok as a less restrictive platform, including with a "Spicy Mode" for sexual content. These are the plaintiffs' allegations, and they have not been tested in court. xAI had not commented to The Christian Post.

According to KATV, the family is seeking damages, deletion of all illegal depictions of the child, and measures to prevent the creation of sexually explicit images without consent. According to the lawsuit, there is an ongoing risk that fabricated material with the daughter's likeness could continue to circulate online.

Potts Law Firm says that other families, both adults and children, have contacted the firm because they have been depicted in graphic material. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has demanded that Grok be shut down if xAI cannot prevent this type of material.

In Arkansas, the law Act 827 criminalizes AI-generated pornographic images made without consent.