xAI's Grok generated bikini images of British lawmaker after she criticized AI image tools; she sues

A British lawmaker filed a claim Wednesday at the High Court in London against Elon Musk’s company xAI, alleging invasion of privacy after the Grok chatbot generated fake images of her in a bikini. The legislator said the images were created in January after she criticized the spread of deepfake pornography online.

She is seeking damages and wants to set a precedent that companies can be held liable for the design of their AI systems.

Background on the images The lawmaker stated that someone used Grok to produce the images without her consent. She compared the experience to being digitally stripped and said the feeling is similar to a physical violation. She added that once the damage is done, it cannot be undone even if the company later restricts the feature.

Company response and prior cases xAI said earlier this year it restricted image editing in Grok and blocked users from generating images of people in revealing clothing in jurisdictions where it is illegal. A law passed last year in the U.K. made it illegal to create or request a non-consensual deepfake image of an adult.

Support from officials British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he supports the lawmaker’s legal action 100 percent and called the images disgusting. The lawmaker said she hopes others will join the claim.

“Nobody would be able to walk up to me in the street and strip me and put me in a bikini, and I don’t see why anybody should be able to do that to me online, because the feeling, while it is not quite the same, is very similar.”

In January, American writer Ashley St. Clair filed a separate lawsuit against xAI in New York alleging that explicit images of her were generated by Grok, including one in which she was underage. xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.