UK MP Jess Asato sues Elon Musk's xAI over deepfake bikini images
Labour MP Jess Asato, representing Lowestoft, filed a claim at the High Court in London against Elon Musk's artificial‑intelligence company xAI. She alleges that the company’s Grok chatbot generated non‑consensual sexualised images of her in a bikini and a deepfake video, violating her privacy and the UK’s data‑protection law. Asato seeks damages and aims to set a legal precedent that AI developers can be held liable for design choices that enable such abuse.
The case has drawn political support, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stating he is “100 % behind” Asato’s action. Following public outcry earlier this year, xAI limited Grok’s image‑generation capability to paid subscribers and pledged to block sexualised outputs where illegal. The UK has recently criminalised the creation or request of non‑consensual deepfake images of adults.
Other individuals have approached Asato’s lawyers to join the lawsuit, turning the case into a broader test of AI liability. The legal challenge highlights growing regulatory scrutiny of AI tools that can produce harmful deepfake content.