British Labour MP Jess Asato is asking the High Court in London to order Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, to prevent its Grok chatbot from generating non-consensual sexualized images of her. The lawsuit argues that the platform’s design allows the creation of manipulated content that violates her privacy and data protection rights.
Asato announced legal action last month after users allegedly created fabricated sexualized images depicting her through Grok. According to her court filings, one of the generated videos portrayed her being chloroformed before a sexual assault, prompting her to pursue legal action against the AI developer.
The claim accuses xAI of misusing private information and breaching UK data protection laws. Asato argues that the way Grok was designed and trained enabled users to generate the disputed content.
Court documents show she is seeking an injunction requiring xAI to introduce what her legal team describes as effective and permanent technical safeguards. If granted, the order would require Grok to prevent the creation of manipulated sexualized images depicting her.
According to Asato’s lawyers, the case could establish an important legal precedent by applying privacy and data protection law directly to the design and operation of a generative AI system. They say no previous case has sought this type of remedy against an AI developer in the United Kingdom.
xAI had not responded publicly to the allegations at the time of the filing. The company had also not submitted a defence in the High Court proceedings.
Grok is integrated into Musk’s social media platform X and has faced regulatory scrutiny in several countries over its ability to generate non-consensual sexualized images. The legal action against xAI follows broader concerns about how generative AI tools can be used to create realistic images of people without their permission.
The lawsuit also cites internal system prompts that allegedly governed Grok’s behaviour. According to the court filings, one instruction directed the chatbot not to assist users engaged in clearly criminal activity. However, Asato’s legal team argues that other prompts stated the system had no restrictions on adult sexual content or offensive material, including fictional adult sexual content involving violent themes.
Her lawyer, Ravi Naik, said the chatbot’s behaviour reflected decisions made during its development rather than unpredictable actions by the software itself. He argued that those design choices should carry legal consequences and said the requested court order would require the system to comply with UK legal standards if xAI did not make the necessary changes voluntarily.
The case follows earlier efforts by xAI to limit image generation. In January, the company announced restrictions on editing images and blocked requests involving people in revealing clothing where doing so would violate local laws. However, Reuters reported in February that Grok was still capable of generating sexualized images of individuals even when users explicitly stated that the subjects had not consented.
The UK lawsuit is one of several legal challenges involving Grok. Earlier this year, the City of Baltimore filed a lawsuit against xAI over AI-generated sexualized images, while additional proceedings have also been initiated in the United States and the Netherlands. xAI has not publicly commented on Asato’s specific claims, and the High Court case remains ongoing.