A Labour MP has launched legal action against Elon Musk’s xAI company for damages saying that its Grok chatbot tool was used to create fake pictures of her in a bikini.
Jess Asato, the MP for Lowestoft in Suffolk, previously said it was ‘violating’ to see the tech billionaire’s AI chatbot used to create images of her without consent.
This included not only pictures of Ms Asato wearing a bikini but also disturbing images of her being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault.
And since she launched her legal action, Ms Asato has seen further AI-generated images of her created.
In a claim submitted to the High Court, Ms Asato has accused xAI – a company owned by Musk who also owns X – of breaching laws related to data protection and the misuse of private information such as using people’s images without their consent.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Ms Asato said: ‘It’s important we use the available law to hold these tech companies to account. If somebody produces harm through a product like Grok then there needs to be some redress.’
The MP added that she wants to win the case to show that tech companies ‘cannot act without impunity’ and there needs to be ‘safeguards’ built into their products to prevent people’s images being used without their consent.
She has also called on any victim who had their image manipulated by Grok to come forward.
Jess Asato (pictured), the MP for Lowestoft in Suffolk, previously said it was ‘violating’ to see the tech billionaire’s AI chatbot used to create images of her without consent
Pictured: Elon Musk the owner of xAI. In a claim submitted to the High Court, Ms Asato has accused xAI the company of breaching laws related to data protection and the misuse of private information such as using people’s images without their consent
The Prime Minister has voiced his support for Ms Asato today.
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Speaking in York, the PM told reporters: ‘Jess Asato is absolutely right in the action she is taking. Disgusting images were created, in her particular case by Grok.
‘I am really pleased that we took Grok on a few months ago, because that is the fight we should be in, taking on some of these platforms providers [and] some of these disgusting images, really disgusting. We won that.
‘But Jess is right, she is a parliamentarian. I am 100 per cent behind the action that she has taken.
‘When it comes to disgusting images on Grok, we take Grok on and fight because that’s who we are as a country.’
Ms Asato’s case comes after a similar lawsuit was submitted in New York by Ashley St Clair, who is the mother of one of Musk’s children, who alleges explicit images were also generated of her by Grok, including one image in which she was underage.
Ravi Naik, the lawyer representing Ms Asato, told The Financial Times: ‘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 or have you represented in different conditions, must be an image of you. xAI say otherwise.’
Ms Asato’s case comes after a similar lawsuit was submitted in New York by Ashley St Clair (pictured) who alleges explicit images were also generated of her by Grok, including one image in which she was underage
Recalling when the AI images were created, Ms Asato told Breakfast that the experience left her feeling ‘dehumanised’ and ‘demeaned’.
She said: ‘As an MP I campaign on violence against women and girls and when we heard Grok was being used to create these horrific sexualised images.
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‘I spoke out against that and then I became a victim too.
‘I was by no means the worst victim affected but it made me feel dehumanised, it made me feel demeaned, it was something that made me feel like my consent had been stripped.
‘In my case [Musk] reshared an image of me saying I didn’t want to be put in a bikini laughing at those of us who had this happen to us.’
Ms Asato also revealed since she started her legal action further AI-generated images of her have been created.
The UK government previously threatened legal action against X, formerly Twitter, after Grok was used to produce sexualised images of real women and in some cases children. Meanwhile, Ofcom launched a separate inquiry.
X initially said it would change its rules so that only paying customers could produce such imagery – a move that was strongly condemned by Sir Keir Starmer as ‘horrific’.
Just days later, X U-turned and declared that Grok would be stopped from editing pictures of real people to show them in revealing clothes.
The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has voiced his support for Ms Asato today
Meanwhile, Grok and other AI platforms have faced criticism after they falsely accused two Hampshire Police officers of being the involved in the arrest of Henry Nowak in December 2025.
Christi Hill, who served as a police constable for 12 years, said she had been forced to flee to a safe location after numerous posts on X called for her and a male officer – who was also wrongly identified – to be tracked down.
The posts called for the pair to be arrested and in some instances face violence.
Sir Keir also accused Elon Musk of ‘trying to whip up division’ in Britain following the murder of Henry.
He said: ‘We need to assert who we are as a country because Musk again has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division. That is not who we are in Britain.’
Sir Keir continued: ‘We also need to assert who we are as a country because Musk again has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division. That is not who we are in Britain.
‘In Britain we are reasonable, tolerant people. When we have a terrible case like Henry’s case, Henry Nowak, we react calmly as his family has done.’
The Daily Mail has approached xAI for a comment.
