A British lawmaker announced Thursday that she is suing Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, for invasion of privacy, alleging that fake images of her were generated using the Grok chatbot.
Details of the Lawsuit
Jess Asato, a member of Parliament for the governing Labour Party, stated that someone used Grok to create fake images of her in a bikini without her consent in January. This occurred shortly after she publicly criticized the proliferation of deepfake pornography online. She filed a claim Wednesday at the High Court in London, citing misuse of private information under the Data Protection Act.
Asato is seeking damages and aims to establish a legal precedent holding companies liable for the design of their AI systems. She described the experience as akin to being digitally stripped without consent. “Nobody would be able to walk up to me in the street and strip me and put me in a bikini, and I don’t see why anybody should be able to do that to me online, because the feeling, while it is not quite the same, is very similar,” she said. “It is like somebody has digitally stripped me without my consent.”
Support from Prime Minister
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed full support for Asato's legal action, stating, “Jess Asato is absolutely right in the action that she is taking. Disgusting images were created in her particular case by Grok.”
Context and Previous Actions
Following international outcry against deepfake pornography, xAI announced in January that it would no longer allow Grok users to edit images of real people to remove their clothing. A law passed last year in the U.K. made it illegal to create or request a non-consensual deepfake image of an adult. However, Asato argues that xAI should be held accountable for harm already done. “Once the damage is done, the damage is done,” she said. “If you think about any other products, like a car, for example, that might have been manufactured with a fault, it doesn’t matter if the cars get recalled and the faults are fixed and no more harm is done.”
Related Legal Action in the U.S.
In January, American writer Ashley St. Clair, mother of Musk’s son Romulus, filed a lawsuit against xAI in New York. She alleges that explicit images of her were generated by Grok, including one depicting her as a minor.
xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
