Grok: Labour MP Jess Asato launches landmark case against xAI over 'deepfakes'

Elon Musk's Grok, or xAI, is again under scrutiny over generating explicit content such as 'deepfakes' or sexualized images.

In a statement given on Wednesday, one of the British lawmakers is suing the Grok AI platform over content violation.

The allegations include non-consensual deepfakes and AI safety failures by xAI:

UK Labour MP Jess Asato has launched a landmark High Court lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI, alleging that the company’s Grok chatbot generated non-consensual, sexually explicit deepfake imagery depicting her.

"Grok created deepfake pornography and sexualized content, which harmed thousands of women and children," Asato, who is a member of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party, said in a statement.

Its ability is not an accident or misuse; it is a design choice by its creators. In launching this case, I am pursuing accountability for those choices."

The lawsuit centers on claims that the xAI platform's image generation tool, Grok, was used to create graphic, non-consensual deepfake content.

According to the court filing, the content included a video of an extreme and violent nature, which Asato’s legal team argues constitutes a severe breach of personal safety and dignity.

The MP asserts that despite her public advocacy for stricter AI regulations and her previous efforts to highlight the dangers of non-consensual sexualized imagery, xAI’s safety guardrails failed to prevent the creation of these malicious files.

Grok, distributed through Musk's social media platform X, is currently ‌subject to regulatory probes in several countries after an outcry earlier this year over its use to create non-consensual sexualized images.

In mid-January, xAI said it restricted image editing in Grok and blocked users from generating images of people in revealing clothing in "jurisdictions where it's illegal."

However, in early February, the regulators found that even after new curbs, Grok continued to generate sexualized images of people even when users explicitly warned that the subjects do not consent.

In March, the City of Baltimore sued xAI, claiming Grok's ability to create fake sexualized images violated the city's consumer protection law.

Law firm AWO said Asato had filed a claim at the High Court in England for breaches of data protection law and misuse of her private information. She is seeking remedies including damages, a formal acknowledgment that what happened to her was illegal, and an order requiring xAI to stop all further illegality.

"This is one of the first claims to test liability for the design of an AI system, and we hope it will make it clear to AI developers that safety cannot be an afterthought," said Ravi Naik, legal director of AWO.

xAI has not yet provided a detailed response, or mention their general stance on safety