Starmer backs Labour MP Jess Asato suing Elon Musk's xAI over deepfakes of her in a bikini

Sir Keir Starmer has backed a Labour MP who is suing Elon Musk's xAI, saying the Grok chatbot was used to create fake images of her in a bikini.

The prime minister said Jess Asato "is absolutely right in the action she is taking" .

He added: "Disgusting images were created, in her particular case by Grok.

"I am really pleased that we took Grok on a few months ago, because that is the fight we should be in, taking on some of these platforms providers [and] some of these disgusting images, really disgusting. We won that.

"But Jess is right, she is a parliamentarian. I am 100% behind the action that she has taken."

He also accused Musk of "interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division. That is not who we are in Britain."

He added: "In Britain we are reasonable, tolerant people. When we have a terrible case like Henry's case, Henry Nowak, we react calmly as his family has done.

"When it comes to disgusting images on Grok, we take Grok on and fight because that's who we are as a country."

Ms Asato is the Labour MP for Lowestoft. In a statement about her legal action she said: "Grok created deepfake pornography and sexualised content which harmed thousands of women and children.

"Its ability is not an accident, nor misuse, it is a design choice ​by its creators. In launching this case, I am pursuing accountability for those choices."

She claims that Grok users created and shared fake images depicting her in a bikini, as well as a video showing her "being chloroformed and prepared ⁠for a sexual assault", after she criticised the chatbot in January.

Ms Asato said she filed a claim at the High Court on Wednesday in a bid to seek accountability for the design choices that allowed Grok to create such images.

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

Following the backlash over xAI earlier this year, the company said its users would no longer be able to use Grok to generate sexualised images of real people.

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

The claim filed at the High Court on Wednesday is being brought under the Data Protection Act and for tortious misuse of private information.

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Ms Asato's solicitor, Ravi Naik of the law firm AWO, said: "Where there is a wrong, the law must provide a remedy, and that is as true of artificial intelligence as of anything else.

"No one should be subjected to abuse like this, and no one should have to instruct a lawyer to get images like these taken down.

"This content existed because of design choices made by engineers at xAI. It is built deliberately.

"This is one of the first claims to test liability for the design of an AI system, and we aim to make it clear that safety cannot be an afterthought. Ms Asato has shown real courage in stepping forward."

xAI has been approached for comment.

(c) Sky News 2026: Starmer backs Labour MP Jess Asato suing Elon Musk's xAI over deepfakes of her in a bikini