Starmer ‘100% behind’ MP suing Elon Musk’s xAI over Grok images

Helen Corbett – Press Association Political Correspondent

Sir Keir Starmer said a Labour MP was “absolutely right” in taking legal action against Elon Musk’s xAI over “disgusting” images created of her by chatbot Grok.

Lowestoft MP Jess Asato said she filed a claim at the High Court on Wednesday in a bid to seek accountability for the design choices that allowed the artificial intelligence (AI) tool to create fake images of her, including in a bikini.

She is seeking damages but she also wants to set a precedent for companies to be liable for the design of AI systems and create “better guardrails” for tech companies in future.

Sir Keir has said he is “100%” behind her.

The Prime Minister added: “Jess Asato is absolutely right in the action that she is taking.

“Disgusting images were created in her particular case by Grok.”

It comes after a backlash earlier this year over how X users were able to instruct Grok to create false sexualised images.

Ms Asato was targeted in January after speaking up, she says, and spoke in the Commons at the time about how Grok had been used to create fake images of her in a bikini.

xAI then said users would no longer be able to use the tool to generate sexualised images of real people.

Sir Keir had said at the time he was willing to take on the company and said regulator Ofcom had ministers’ full backing to act.

It has since become illegal to create or request a non-consensual deepfake image of an adult in the UK.

Sir Keir said: “And I’m really pleased that we took Grok on a few months ago, because that’s the fight we should be in.

“Taking on some of these platform providers, some of these disgusting images … we won that.

“But Jess is right, she’s a parliamentarian, and I’m 100% behind the action that she has taken.”

He later added: “When it comes to disgusting images on Grok, we take Grok on and fight because that’s who we are as a country.”