Labour MP Jess Asato received UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer support after she took legal action against Elon Musk’s xAI.
According to Sky News, Starmer has said that the Grok chatbot was used to create fake images of her in a bikini.
The prime minister said 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% behind the action that she has taken," he added.
Asato claims that Grok users created and shared fake images depicting her in a bikini, as well as a video showing her "being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault", after she criticised the chatbot in January.
The MP for Lowesoft said she filed a claim at the High Court on Wednesday, June 3, in a bid to seek accountability for the design choices that allowed Grok to create such images.
She is seeking damages, but also wants to set a precedent for companies to be liable for the design of AI systems and to create "better guardrails" for tech companies in the future.
It is worth noting that after the backlash over xAI earlier this year, the company said its users would no longer be able to use Grok to generate sexualised images of real people.
It has since become illegal to create or request a non-consensual deepfake of an adult in the UK.
