Illinois plaintiff sues SpaceXAI over Grok’s alleged collection of facial data

Scott Wilson has filed a proposed class action against SpaceXAI Corp. and SpaceXAI LLC, alleging Grok collected facial geometry from uploaded photographs without the notice and written consent Illinois law requires. The Illinois federal case challenges what the AI tool allegedly extracts from a face—not merely its receipt of a photograph.

According to Top Class Actions’ October 27 coverage, Wilson alleges the processing occurred when users asked Grok to analyze, rate, edit or transform a face, or generate content based on it. His complaint says the system created and used a face-specific representation that measured, mapped or otherwise encoded the face’s geometry.

Wilson alleges SpaceXAI failed to tell affected people that it was collecting biometric identifiers, explain the collection’s purpose and duration, or obtain written releases. These are allegations, not court findings. An October 29 Shumaker client alert says the Grok biometric lawsuits remain at an early stage, with the underlying technology’s operation still a central legal and technical question.

A photograph and a facial scan are legally different

Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, known as BIPA, expressly excludes photographs from its definition of biometric identifiers. But it includes a scan of hand or face geometry. That distinction separates accepting an image from deriving regulated information from it, explain Shumaker attorneys C. Jade Davis and Wendy M. Byrne in their client alert.

BIPA’s requirements also go beyond a general acknowledgment that an app processes images. Before collecting covered biometric data, businesses generally must provide written notice of collection or storage, explain the specific purpose and length of use, and obtain a written release. A separate provision requires entities possessing covered data to publish a written retention schedule and permanent-destruction guidelines.

Who Wilson wants to represent

The proposed class is narrower than everyone whose face might appear in a Grok upload. Wilson seeks to represent Illinois residents who were physically in Illinois, logged into an authenticated Grok account, uploaded a photograph depicting their own face, and used the tool for the specified face-related tasks. The case is Wilson v. SpaceXAI Corp., et al., No. 1:26-cv-12502, in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

Wilson requests a jury trial, declaratory and injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees and costs. He also seeks statutory damages of $5,000 per alleged violation, or alternatively $1,000 if the conduct was negligent. Those figures are requested remedies, not an award. BIPA lets individuals bring claims directly; Shumaker notes that a 2024 amendment limited repeated recoveries involving the same person’s data under certain provisions.