Jess Asato, the Labour MP for Lowestoft, has launched legal action against Elon Musk’s xAI company, alleging that its Grok AI tool was used to create fake sexualised images of her without consent. The images, which included her portrayed in a bikini and a video depicting her being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault, were generated after she criticised the creation of such non-consensual pictures.
The claim, filed at the High Court in London, argues that xAI breached data protection laws and misused private information by allowing users to prompt Grok to produce these images. Asato described seeing the images as “violating” and said the experience was deeply distressing.
The lawsuit follows a similar case in New York by Ashley St Clair, mother of one of Musk’s children, who alleged Grok generated explicit images of her, including one where she appeared underage. Asato’s case could set a precedent for holding AI developers accountable for user-generated content.
Ravi Naik, Asato’s lawyer, stated: “At its heart this case is about a single principle: that developers must answer for the way they design and deploy their tools. Our case is that … an image that is of you, is designed to look like you and [whose] very purpose is to degrade you … must be an image of you. xAI say otherwise.”
The UK government threatened action against X in January after Grok was used to produce vast quantities of sexualised imagery based on real women and children. Ofcom launched an inquiry, and X initially restricted the feature to paying customers before halting it entirely. Despite calls to leave the platform, Downing Street and many MPs have remained on X.
Asato said: “My hope is that this will rebalance individuals’ rights against very large tech companies that should have put safeguards in place before they harmed women and children.”
