British Labour MP Jess Asato has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI at London's High Court, alleging that the Grok chatbot generated fake sexualised images of her using internal prompts that imposed 'no restrictions on adult sexual content or offensive content'.
Asato is suing for misuse of private information and breach of data protection laws, seeking a court order that would require xAI to implement technical measures preventing Grok from creating manipulated images of her and to remove remaining online images. According to court documents, she is also seeking damages for what she describes as a 'gross violation of her dignity' (claim:12).
According to court filings, several X users prompted Grok to create sexualised images of Asato after she criticised Musk. When she attempted to report the posts, X refused to remove them, stating they did not violate its terms of service. Two videos were later removed, but six of the 21 posts reported in February remained accessible in late July.
Asato's lawyer, Ravi Naik, said the remedy includes a court order requiring compliance if xAI refuses. Marie Demetriou KC, representing Asato, argued that xAI has failed to prevent the continued creation of such images. The lawsuit alleges that Grok's design and training enabled it to generate sexualised content, and that on occasion the chatbot added explicit material users had not requested.
Internal prompts cited in the lawsuit include instructions such as 'assume good intent' and that 'teenage' or 'girl' does not necessarily imply underage, but prohibit child sexual abuse material. xAI has said users would no longer be able to generate sexualised images of real people using Grok, but has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit.
The legal action follows earlier controversies. Critics have noted that Musk has publicly criticised the UK's Online Safety Act, arguing it risks restricting free speech.
Clare McGlynn, a professor of law at Durham University, described Grok's addition of sexualised elements not requested by users as 'chatbot-driven abuse'. Asato told the court that users created a fake video of her 'being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault'. It has become illegal to create or request a non-consensual deepfake image of an adult in the UK.