Sir Keir Starmer has expressed full support for Labour MP Jess Asato in her legal action against Elon Musk's xAI over fake images created by its chatbot Grok. The Prime Minister described the images as 'disgusting' and said the MP was 'absolutely right' to take the company to court.
Ms Asato, the MP for Lowestoft, filed a claim at the High Court on Wednesday seeking damages and accountability for the design choices that allowed Grok to generate fake images of her, including one in a bikini. She aims to set a precedent for companies to be liable for AI system designs and to establish 'better guardrails' for tech firms.
The case follows a backlash earlier this year when X users were able to instruct Grok to create false sexualised images. Ms Asato was targeted in January after speaking out, and she raised the issue in the Commons. In response, xAI said users would no longer be able to generate such images of real people.
Sir Keir noted that the government had previously taken on Grok, with regulator Ofcom receiving full backing to act. It has since become illegal to create or request a non-consensual deepfake image of an adult in the UK. The Prime Minister added: 'Jess is right, she's a parliamentarian, and I'm 100% behind the action that she has taken.'
