The $30 million AI company faces the heat

A Labour MP has launched a High Court claim against xAI, a company owned by Elon Musk, for damages over AI-generated images that breached data protection laws and misused private information.

The MP, Jess Asato, claims xAI's Grok chatbot tool was used to cretae fake pictures of her in a bikini without her consent, including disturbing images of her being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault.

Ms Asato has called on any victim who had their image manipulated by Grok to come forward, saying it's essential to hold tech companies accountable for their products.

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A similar lawsuit was submitted in New York by Ashley St Clair, who alleges explicit images were generated of her by Grok,including one image in which she was underage.

Ms Asato's case comes after the UK government threatened legal action against X, formerly Twitter, after Grok was used to produce sexualised images of real women and in some cases children.

Ofcom launched a separate inquiry, and X initially said it would change its rules to prevent such imagery, but later U-turned and declared that Grok would be stopped from editing pictures of real people to show them in revealing clothes.

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The Financial Times reported that Ravi Naik, the lawyer representing Ms Asato, said at its heart, this case is about a single principle: that developers must answer for the way they design and deploy their tools.

The lawyer added that xAI says otherwise, and the case will determine whether an image that is designed to look like someone, is meant to degrade them, must be an image of them.

Ms Asato told BBC Breakfast that the experience left her feeling dehumanised and demeaned , saying it made her feel like her consent had been stripped.

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The UK government previously threatened legal action against X, and Ofcom launched a separate inquiry into the use of Grok.

Ms Asato's case has sparked a wider debate about the misuse of private information and the need for safeguards in AI products.