British MP Jess Asato sues xAI over sexualized Grok images in landmark AI liability case

British lawmaker sues Musk's xAI over sexualised Grok images

LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - British lawmaker Jess Asato is suing Elon Musk's xAI (SPCX.O), opens new tab, saying in a statement on Wednesday the Grok AI platform had been used to create fake sexualised images of her. 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 sexualised images. "Grok created deepfake pornography and sexualised 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, nor misuse, it is a design ⁠choice by its creators. In launching this case, I am pursuing accountability for those choices." xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 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." In early February, Reuters found that even after new curbs, Grok continued to generate sexualised images of people even when users explicitly warned that the subjects do not consent. xAI is part of Musk's rocket and space exploration company SpaceX, which is expected to launch what could become the largest IPO ⁠in history later this month. The statement from Asato's office said that after she condemned Grok in January, users created and shared fake images depicting her in a bikini and a video showing her "being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault." In March, the City of Baltimore sued xAI, claiming the Grok's ability ⁠to create fake sexualised 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 acknowledgement 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. Reporting by William James; Editing by Cynthia Osterman Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

A British MP is suing to see if xAI is legally responsible for the images Grok produces - Engadget

xAI is under investigation in the EU, UK and California because of its freewheeling AI image generator. UK Labour MP Jess Asato is suing xAI over sexually explicit AI-generated images that were created of her by Grok, The Financial Times reports. The lawsuit is the first high-profile test of whether AI companies can be held responsible for content people produce with their tools in the UK. Grok users started producing and sharing images of Asato in January, right around when it was first reported that the AI assistant had been used to create CSAM. Asato alleges users prompted Grok to produce images of her in a bikini, along with an explicit video "showing her being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault," FT writes. Users later reshared, discussed and produced more AI images on X, the social platform owned by xAI. Asato's lawsuit claims that xAI violated laws around the misuse of private information and data protection, opening it up to liability even though individual users were the ones to use Grok. She's seeking financial damages and an order that will force xAI to follow UK law. "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," Asato said to FT. xAI claimed it put limits on Grok's ability to produce sexually explicit images in January, but those blocks were fairly easily circumvented when put to the test. The negative response to Grok's capacity to produce nonconsensual deepfakes has been widespread. Besides being under investigation in the EU, UK and California, xAI or X are also being sued by the city of Baltimore, Maryland, a group of teens and Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Elon Musk's children. All of this is happening while SpaceX, the relatively new owner of both xAI and X, is trying to go public. It's hard to say if the negative attention will do anything to impact Musk's new IPO, but it definitely seems like any movement on reigning in Grok will come from regulators or one of these lawsuits, rather than the SpaceX CEO himself.

Women in Jess Asato MP's constituency want to fight back

Women in Jess Asato's Suffolk constituency have said they need to "fight" back against social media users who generate sexualised imagery of people. The Labour MP for Lowestoft has said she is taking legal action against Elon Musk's xAI through the High Court. She claimed that the platform had been used to create "disgusting" images of her - including a fake picture of her in a bikini - by its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok. Her constituents told the BBC they were horrified and that having their images manipulated in such a way would be degrading and a violation of their identity. "To hear that somebody's been violated in this way just shocks me - I'm really shocked," artist Susanna Wallis said. "Women seem to have to keep coming up with another fight and we have to keep going to the next frontier of the fight and through another." Businesswoman Amanda Steel, who runs Sam's Cafe in Lowestoft, said the rise of nudification tools meant she did not want to promote herself on social media. "You're watching what can be done to other women and you don't want to put anything out there that could be used," she said. "There's so much negativity around women and women's images, but you can put your head above the parapet for what you're fighting for. "We have to fight back." Tracey McFee, who helps out at the cafe, described the issue as being a "real scary situation" and said she feared for the safety of her daughters and granddaughters. "How am I going to be able to protect them? I'm horrified," she said. "AI can be a great educational tool and used very positively to empower women in business. "But I think this is a stark reminder that there is also a very, very dark side." Erica Thompson is a beautician and aesthetics clinician who uses AI to show customers how certain treatments could help them or how a styling might look. But for that, she first always has to gain their consent to use their images. "This is the major thing that has happened with Jess, she hasn't yet given her consent, and so her power's been taken away," she told the BBC. "And that stays with you, that's a violation of your identity which just destroys your confidence." Caroline Parnis, from the Sensory Studio at Blade hairdressers, said she immediately thought of her teenage daughter when she heard what had happened to Asato. "She is at a very vulnerable age, and this can happen to anyone, this doesn't just affect women and children, it can affect everybody in society," she said. "Even when I went on holiday last year, I didn't put any pictures of myself in a bikini on social media." Tanya Mayfield is an empowerment photographer who runs her own studio and strives to make women "feel good in their skin, whether it's with clothes on or off". She said she was "absolutely worried" that images she took and shared on social media could then be used and manipulated. "It's really scary because I'm putting ladies out there who have given me their consent, but now maybe people can take those images and tweak them," she said. "Anyone who walks into my studio has full rights, but [if I were to] take away someone's privacy or edit them without consent that is my business over." The MP, who filed her lawsuit on Wednesday, is seeking damages but also wants to set a precedent for companies to be liable for the design of AI systems. Despite numerous approaches from the BBC for comment, xAI has not responded. Since vowing to take action, Asato said she had had a "huge response" from people voicing their support but also from women who said they, too, had had their images nudified. "How is it that tech companies can create products that can create this disgusting material? Where is the respect for women?" she said. "You wouldn't walk up to someone in this street and just start taking their clothes off them. So you shouldn't be able to do that to a woman online." The filing of the lawsuit came just hours before the conviction of Anwar Mohamed, of Anchor Street, in Lowestoft, who had previously contacted the politician. The 59-year-old was found guilty of sending a communication or article of an indecent or grossly offensive nature, for which he will be sentenced on 3 July. He had also been charged with sending communications that threaten death or serious harm - a charge which the court said would lie on file. Do you have a story suggestion for Suffolk? Contact us below. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

A UK MP's lawsuit could decide whether xAI answers for what Grok makes

Jess Asato's High Court claim asks a question UK courts have not yet answered: is the maker of an image generator liable for what its users produce? The case turns on a question of authorship. When a user types a prompt and Grok returns a sexualised image of a real woman, who made it, the person at the keyboard or the company that built the machine? On 3 June, Labour MP Jess Asato filed a claim at the High Court in England that asks a court to decide, and in doing so set up the first high-profile UK test of whether an AI developer can be held directly liable for what its tool generates. The facts behind the claim are ugly and specific. Asato, who represents Lowestoft, says users prompted Grok in January to produce images of her in a bikini, alongside an explicit video described in her filing as showing her being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault. Those images were then reshared and discussed on X, the platform xAI owns, and used to generate further material. Asato announced the claim herself, writing that she was "just one of thousands of women and even children" targeted by abusive AI deepfakes. What makes the suit consequential is its legal theory rather than its facts. Asato is suing xAI for misuse of private information and breaches of data protection law, the argument being that the company is exposed even though individual users wrote the prompts. She is seeking damages, a formal acknowledgement that what happened to her was unlawful, and an order requiring xAI to comply with UK law. "My hope is that this will rebalance individuals' rights against very large tech companies," she told the Financial Times, "that should have put safeguards in place before they harmed women and children." That is the open question UK courts have not yet resolved. Existing deepfake cases tend to pursue the individuals who created or shared the material. Asato is going past them to the developer, testing whether building and operating a generator that produces non-consensual sexual imagery is itself actionable. A win would reshape how every company offering image generation in the UK thinks about liability. A loss would confirm that responsibility stops at the user. xAI said in January that it had limited Grok's ability to produce sexually explicit images, but those safeguards proved easy to circumvent when tested. The company has not commented publicly on Asato's claim. The lawsuit also lands in crowded company. xAI faces investigations over Grok's image generation in the EU, the UK, and California, and the Ofcom probe into X under the Online Safety Act opened in January over reports the tool had been used to create non-consensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material. The pressure has come from outside Britain too, with Paris prosecutors and a Swiss minister both pursuing their own actions over Grok-generated material. Asato's is the one framed most squarely as a precedent. The timing is awkward for Musk, whose SpaceX, now the owner of both xAI and X, is preparing to go public. Whether the legal pressure reaches the IPO is unclear. What is clear is that the constraints on Grok now look likelier to come from a courtroom than from the company that built it.

What led Suffolk MP Jess Asato to go against Elon Musk?

A Suffolk MP is taking on one of the richest men in the world - Elon Musk. Jess Asato, the Labour MP for Lowestoft, announced on Wednesday she planned to take legal action over "disgusting" deepfake images of her, allegedly created by the chatbot Grok on Musk's X platform. She said she felt she had been targeted after speaking out against the bot and sexualised deepfakes it had created of other women. But how big of an issue are deepfakes? What do people think of Asato's stand? And what has Musk said? Back in January, Asato said she had been left violated when an image of her was manipulated using AI technology so that she appeared in a bikini. She posted on X, and the BBC saw numerous examples of such images being posted in the comments. However, it had not been clear if the image, and those posted in the reply, had been created using the AI chatbot Grok. It came at a time when other women reported similar sexualised images of themselves on the social media platform, with some describing it as "dehumanising". Then, on Wednesday, Asato revealed she had launched legal action against Musk's xAI company, which created Grok. She said her claim was about seeking redress for "the harms that were created while Grok was creating harms". The claim filed at the High Court is being brought under the Data Protection Act and for tortious misuse of private information. Grok is an AI chatbot developed by Musk's xAI firm, and was first released in 2023. It can be used to generate text, images and video, and it has been integrated into the social media network X. Grok has been heavily criticised in recent months as it was used in similar examples to Asato to undress women and put them in sexual positions without consent. For example, explicit images of journalist and campaigner Jess Davis were created without her consent on the software and Dr Daisy Dixon, a lecturer in philosophy at Cardiff University, experienced the same. These are known as deepfakes, which are videos, pictures and other content made using AI to make it look real. It has since become illegal to create or request a non-consensual deepfake image of an adult in the UK. When Asato first raised the issue of the deepfakes made of her earlier in the year, it generated huge discussions on her social media pages. On Wednesday, there was even more when she announced her legal action, both in support of her stand and otherwise. It prompted Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to also put out his own statement, detailing that he was "100%" behind her and she was "absolutely right" in her action. Rachel Kingsbrook, 47, lives over the border in Cantley in Norfolk, but has been following Asato, describing her as "extremely brave". She believed people "failed to understand" that deepfakes had real consequences for victims, and for the perpetrators it was about power and control. "It shows once again that when victims and survivors seek help, or support, or accountability, they are silenced, or ridiculed, or attacked," she added. Jade, who did not want her surname published, is 36 and lives in Halesworth. While she is also not one of Asato's constituents, she said it was "incredibly empowering" to see her making a stand and that deepfakes "deeply" concerned her. "Whether an intimate image is a manipulated deepfake or a real photograph shared without consent, the real-world harm is identical," she said. "It strips victims of their privacy, dignity, and baseline safety." A report found that deepfakes had increased by 550% between 2019 and 2023. According to the Fawcett Society, a charity that campaigns for women's rights and gender equality, more than 95% of deepfake content online is pornographic and "overwhelmingly" targeting women. UN Women, the UN organisation that upholds women's human rights, has called it a "global crisis", where prosecutions against the issue are rare and survivors are often re-traumatised when they do attempt to seek help. If you, or someone you know, has been affected by sexual abuse, organisations listed at BBC Action Line may be able to help. Dr Tanya Horek, a professor of film and feminist media studies at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, who specialises in AI deepfakes, said: "We're living in this moment where violence against girls and women is a crisis. "It's a national emergency, as has been declared, and I think AI-facilitated sexual abuse is a huge part of this." Horek added that the term deepfake often led people to think the harm caused was not real, and the victims often did not know who was behind the image. She believed thinking about the language around the issue, education in schools and tackling deep-rooted societal misogyny could start to address things. Katherine Ahluwalia, of domestic abuse charity Restore Women's Aid in Bury St Edmunds, said deepfakes were part of a wider issue related to social media. "What we've seen is a lot of stuff that people or young people are seeing on the internet, like things like the 'manosphere', pornography, social media included in that, is fuelling misogyny, which in turn will then fuel domestic abuse and other crimes as well," she explained. "You'll see it nationally, there's stats on it, the number of sexual assaults in schools, like peer-on-peer sexual assaults, is increasing year on year. "So all of this is linked. You can't separate it, and those sort of misogynistic beliefs do feed into domestic abuse and sexual assaults." Maryam Yaqub is the AI lead at the Fawcett Society and said women and men had differing opinions on AI, with women expressing some "mistrust". "One of the things that I think is important to note is that female politicians being silenced in this way, it's not something new - in the sense that sexualising a woman who has a voice and reducing that woman to just her sexuality has been a tool that has been used against women throughout history," she said. "Now it's being done in a way that feels just like anyone can do it." She believed that while the government had criminalised creating deepfakes without consent, a more "proactive" approach was needed rather than a "reactive" one. It is not just here in the UK where deepfakes are being discussed. Over in the United States, where xAI's headquarters is based, the mother of one of Musk's children is also suing him over them. Ashley St Clair filed a lawsuit back in January over sexualised deepfakes created on X, to which xAI countersued stating that she had violated their terms of service by filing her lawsuit. President Donald Trump last year did sign the Take It Down Act that criminalises posting intimate images - real or AI-generated - online without an individual's consent, and it requires technology companies to remove the content within 48 hours. Despite numerous approaches from the BBC for a request for comment in response to Asato's action, xAI has not responded. Earlier in the year, however, action was taken by the company to stop Grok being able to edit photos of real people to show them in revealing clothing in jurisdictions where it is illegal, such as the UK. Musk himself said: "Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content." Asato's legal case at the High Court was filed on Wednesday. A future hearing will be set - the details of which have not yet been shared. Do you have a story suggestion for Suffolk? Contact us below. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

New claimants seek to sue Elon Musk's xAI after Labour MP's test case

Jess Asato's lawyer says others want to take action over demeaning sexualised material created by Grok AI tool New claimants have come forward to take legal action against Elon Musk's company xAI after the Labour MP Jess Asato launched a test case against the firm over demeaning sexualised material created by its Grok AI tool. A handful of complainants contacted Asato's lawyer on Thursday in response to coverage of the MP's decision to sue Musk's company for damages over its creation and circulation of fake images of her in a bikini and an AI-created video that she said showed her "being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault". Ravi Naik, the legal director of the law firm AWO, said he was already acting for "multiple individuals" hoping to take action against Musk's company over degrading, non-consensual content generated by Grok. Many of the claimants had struggled to persuade X to remove the images until they received legal support, he said. "This is the test case on liability for AI developers. Just as if you're an architect and build a building, you have liability for that architecture," Naik said of the claim he has lodged on Asato's behalf at the high court in London. "Those that build and deploy AI models make design choices about how these models operate. This will be the case that looks at liability for decisions in those design choices." The claim argues xAI violated data protection law and breached Asato's private information when it allowed the images to be generated. A bikinification trend went viral on Musk's platform in January when Grok generated about 3m sexualised images in less than two weeks, according to researchers who said it "became an industrial-scale machine for the production of sexual abuse material". The AI tool allowed users to alter online images of real people with requests such as "put her in a bikini" or "remove her clothes". Musk's company later put the technology behind a paywall and limited the chatbot's capacity to fulfil users' prompts to create sexualised images. Asato said she wanted the legal action to demonstrate that "AI companies are responsible for the design choices that they make when they launch their products". She said: "There were guardrails that the engineers and Elon Musk could have put in place to stop Grok from being able to create sexualised images but they decided not to put those guardrails in place. I'm hoping that my legal action will help to rein in tech companies and remind them that they cannot act with impunity." She said she found the experience of seeing fake non-consensual stripped images of herself "psychologically distressing". "This goes to the core of understanding what it means not to consent to something which literally strips your clothes off and makes you vulnerable," she said. When she complained about the harm caused by the Grok trend in January, she received a stream of abusive responses from commentators on X. One of those was shared by Musk, and a user posted the AI-generated video of her apparently being sedated with chloroform in response to his retweet. "Musk actually amplified the hatred against me, which then led to the video that really was horrific," she said. "He could have made different choices about the way he and his company approached the fact that I, as an elected politician in the UK, was saying that I felt humiliated and distressed by what his product was doing." On Thursday, Asato received further verbal abuse on X in response to her announcement of the legal proceedings, including a new AI-generated image of her stripped to a bikini, created using a different tool. Keir Starmer said Asato was "absolutely right" to take legal action against xAI over the "disgusting" images created of her. The legal action comes amid heightened sensitivity to Musk's involvement in UK domestic affairs, after a flurry of posts from the billionaire commenting on the police response to the murder of Henry Nowak. Peter Kyle, the business secretary and a former technology secretary, said it was important that UK politicians were "assertive" in holding Musk to account for the content on his platforms, noting that Musk was "taking a much more active and extreme role in British politics". "Musk is a complex and extreme person. He's an extremely successful innovator and commercialiser of innovation, but he also has extreme personal views," Kyle said. xAI did not respond to a request for comment. Additional reporting by Jessica Elgot

Lowestoft MP Jess Asato sues Musk's xAI after fake bikini picture

A Suffolk MP said she had launched legal action against Elon Musk's xAI over the design of its Grok chatbot tool, after she claimed it was used to create fake images of her in a bikini. Jess Asato, the Labour MP for Lowestoft, previously said she felt violated after an image of her was manipulated using artificial intelligence. She said a legal case was filed at the High Court on Wednesday. The MP is seeking damages but also wants to set a precedent for companies to be liable for the design of AI systems. xAI has been contacted for comment. It comes after a backlash earlier this year over how Grok was being used to create false sexualised images. Asato was targeted in January after speaking up, she said, and spoke in the Commons at the time about how Grok had been used to create fake images of her. Amid the backlash, xAI said users would no longer be able to use the tool to generate sexualised images of real people. It has since become illegal to create or request a non-consensual deepfake image of an adult in the UK. Asato said her claim was about seeking redress for "the harms that were created while Grok was creating harms". "If you think about any other products, like a car, for example, that might have been manufactured with a fault, it doesn't matter if, you know, the cars get recalled and the faults are fixed and no more harm is done," said Asato. "It matters that the car was produced with the fault in the first place, and that's the problem with Grok, is that it was created without the safeguards and without the guardrails to prevent this from happening in the first place. "I guess that's the centre of my case, is to say that it doesn't matter how quickly things were then repaired. Once the damage is done, the damage is done." The claim filed at the High Court is being brought under the Data Protection Act and for tortious misuse of private information. Ravi Naik of law firm AWO, which is representing Asato, said: "Where there is a wrong, the law must provide a remedy, and that is as true of artificial intelligence as of anything else. "No-one should be subjected to abuse like this, and no-one should have to instruct a lawyer to get images like these taken down. "This content existed because of design choices made by engineers at xAI. "This is one of the first claims to test liability for the design of an AI system, and we aim to make it clear that safety cannot be an afterthought." Previously, social media site X, also owned by Musk, said action would be taken against illegal content on its platform. Musk also said: "Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content." Do you have a story suggestion for Suffolk? Contact us below. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Labour MP sues Elon Musk's AI company over fake sexualised images

Jess Asato was portrayed by AI tool as wearing a bikini after she criticised the creation of such non-consensual pictures A Labour MP has taken legal action against Elon Musk's AI company after saying its Grok tool helped a user produce fake sexualised pictures of her, part of a wave of such images that flooded X earlier this year. Jess Asato, the MP for Lowestoft, said in January that seeing herself portrayed by the AI tool as wearing a bikini without her consent was "violating". In a claim submitted to the high court in London, Asato said xAI, the AI arm of the social media site that develops Grok, breached laws connected to data protection and the misuse of private information by letting users of the site prompt Grok to create such images, according to the Financial Times. Asato told the newspaper that as well as creating images of her in a bikini, Grok also produced a video "showing her being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault". Her legal case follows a similar lawsuit filed in New York state by Ashley St Clair, the mother of one of Musk's children. She allaged explicit images were also generated of her by Grok, including one image in which she was underage. Asato's attempt to sue xAI could become a test case for how much such tools and their creators can be held responsible for what users produce with them. Asato told the FT that the images of her were generated after she condemned the creation of such non-consensual sexualised pictures. She 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." Ravi Naik, the lawyer representing Asato, told the paper: "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." 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 in some cases, children. The media regulator, Ofcom, launched an inquiry. Musk's company initially said it would change the system to only allow paying customers on X to produce such imagery, something condemned by Keir Starmer as "horrific". Days later, X said it had entirely stopped Grok from editing pictures of real people to show them in revealing clothes. Downing Street, government departments and many MPs have remained on X despite calls for them to quit the app, due to images created by Grok and because of Musk's embrace of far-right causes in the UK, and his predictions of political violence. Grok was among the AI platforms that falsely accused two Hampshire police officers of being involved in the arrest of Henry Nowak. Christi Hill, who served as a police constable for 12 years, said she had been forced to flee to a safe location. Numerous posts on X have called for Hill and a male officer, also wrongly identified, to be tracked down and arrested, or in some instances to face violence.

British lawmaker sues Musk's xAI over sexualised Grok images

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 sexualised images. British lawmaker Jess Asato is suing Elon Musk's xAI, saying in a statement on Wednesday the Grok AI platform had been used to create fake sexualised images of her. 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 sexualised images. "Grok created deepfake pornography and ⁠sexualised ⁠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, nor misuse, it is a design choice by its creators. In launching this case, I am pursuing accountability for those choices." xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 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." In early February, Reuters found that even after new curbs, Grok continued to generate ⁠sexualised images of people even when users explicitly warned that the subjects do not consent. xAI is part of Musk's rocket and space exploration company SpaceX, which is expected to launch what could become the largest IPO in history later this month. The statement from Asato's office said that after she condemned Grok in January, users created and shared fake images depicting her in a bikini and a video showing her "being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault." In March, the City of Baltimore sued xAI, claiming the Grok's ability to create fake sexualised 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 acknowledgement 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.

UK Lawmaker Sues Elon Musk's xAI For Creating Fake Sexualized Images Of Her

xAI is part of SpaceX, which is expected to launch what could be the largest IPO in history later this month. LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - British lawmaker Jess Asato is suing Elon Musk's xAI, saying in a statement on Wednesday the Grok AI platform had been used to create fake sexualized images of her. 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. "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, nor misuse, it is a design choice by its creators. In launching this case, I am pursuing accountability for those choices." xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 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." In early February, Reuters 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. xAI is part of Musk's rocket and space exploration company SpaceX, which is expected to launch what could become the largest IPO in history later this month. The statement from Asato's office said that after she condemned Grok in January, users created and shared fake images depicting her in a bikini and a video showing her "being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault." In March, the City of Baltimore sued xAI, claiming the 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 acknowledgement 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. (Reporting by William James; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

UK lawmaker Jess Asato sues Elon Musk's xAI over non-consensual Grok deepfakes

British lawmaker Jess Asato is suing Elon Musk's xAI, saying in a statement on Wednesday that Grok AI platform had been used to create fake sexualised images of her. 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 sexualised images. "Grok created deepfake pornography and sexualised 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, nor misuse, it is a design choice by its creators. In launching this case, I am pursuing accountability for those choices." xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 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." Grok continues to generate sexual images, even without consent In early February, Reuters found that even after new curbs, Grok continued to generate sexualised images of people, even when users explicitly warned that the subjects did not consent. xAI is part of Musk's rocket and space exploration company SpaceX, which is expected to launch what could become the largest IPO in history later this month. The statement from Asato's office said that after she condemned Grok in January, users created and shared fake images depicting her in a bikini and a video showing her "being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault." In March, the City of Baltimore sued xAI, claiming Grok's ability to create fake sexualised 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.

British lawmaker Jess Asato sues Elon Musk's xAI after Grok users made fake sexualized images of her in a bikini

British lawmaker Jess Asato is suing Elon Musk's xAI, saying in a statement on Wednesday the Grok AI platform had been used to create fake sexualized images of her. 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. "Grok created deepfake pornography and sexualised 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, nor misuse, it is a design choice by its creators. In launching this case, I am pursuing accountability for those choices." xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 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." In early February, Reuters 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. xAI is part of Musk's rocket and space exploration company SpaceX, which is expected to launch what could become the largest IPO in history later this month. The statement from Asato's office said that after she condemned Grok in January, users created and shared fake images depicting her in a bikini and a video showing her "being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault." In March, the City of Baltimore sued xAI, claiming the 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 acknowledgement 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.