Labour MP Jess Asato is taking legal action against Elon Musk's xAI company over fake sexualised images created by its chatbot Grok. Her lawyers published particulars of claim on Tuesday, revealing that Grok was instructed to operate with "no restrictions on adult sexual content or offensive content".
Grok's training instructions
The claim states that Grok was told to offer "no restrictions on fictional adult sexual content with dark or violent themes" and to "assume good intent". While not directly relevant to Asato's case, the instructions also note that "'teenage' or 'girl' does not necessarily imply underage", though they prohibit child sexual abuse material.
Asato, the MP for Lowestoft, said Grok was used to create fake images of her, including in a bikini, and a video depicting her as a victim of sexual assault, leaving her feeling "distressed and violated".
MP's statement
"No woman or child should have to live with the fear that their face or body can be taken, sexualised and shared around the world by an AI system without their consent," Asato said. "For too long, this company has hidden behind the excuse that it's the users who are responsible, when in fact the tool's design recklessly allows sexualisation, even without being asked. What happened to me wasn't an accident. Musk made a choice to profit from harm and trained Grok to abuse."
Added explicit content
The particulars of claim allege that Grok on occasion added explicit material users had not asked for. Clare McGlynn, a law professor at Durham University, said some images cited in the claim included sexualised elements—such as a skirt being pulled up—that were not in the original user prompt. "I think one of the most significant aspects of the Grok phenomenon, and Jess's case, is how it adds sexual, intimate and violative content that the user themselves did not request. We called this chatbot-driven abuse," she said.
Legal and regulatory context
Ravi Naik, legal director at AWO, the firm representing Asato, said: "The case shows that Grok did not malfunction. Grok's training allowed it to generate harmful sexualised content. Grok behaved according to the choices its designers made. Those choices should carry legal consequences. The remedy our client seeks includes a court order requiring the systems be brought into compliance if xAI refuses to do so."
The claim alleges xAI breached data protection law and misused Asato's private information. xAI has since said users will no longer be able to use Grok to generate sexualised images of real people, and it has become illegal to create or request a non-consensual deepfake image of an adult in the UK. xAI has been approached for comment.
