UK MP Jess Asato testifies about Grok deepfake abuse
UK Member of Parliament Jess Asato tells the Council that sexualized non-consensual images of her were created using SpaceX AI's Grok, and she is suing in UK courts. She calls it 'AI made wrong, not AI gone wrong' and says AI companies must be held to account regardless of wealth.
Good evening and thank you.
My name is Jess Asato and I am a member of the United Kingdom Parliament for Lowestoft in Suffolk.
In January of this year, sexualized and degrading non-consensual images were created of me using SpaceX AI's tool, Grok.
I was one of thousands of victims, including victims in New York, of Grok.
Grok is an AI tool that was engineered to create sexualized content, even if that content had, and I quote, dark or violent themes.
I am seeking remedies against SpaceX AI in the English courts for the misuse of my private information and for contravening UK data protection laws.
I made a long journey of 3,400 miles to be here because AI needs to be safe around our world.
But I note that SpaceX AI couldn't manage a trip of what I understand is just 20 minutes or four subway stops from their offices in Manhattan.
It's a shame because the evidence in my case and other cases suggests that Grok was not built with sufficient safety in its design.
It was not built to address consent of those subjected to sexualized content.
To the contrary, the evidence in my claim suggests Croc added sexualized content without any user prompting to do so.
That is AI made wrong, not AI gone wrong.
And as a result, those responsible for its creation must be held to account.
No one is above the law, no matter how rich they are, no matter how powerful they are.
The equal protection of the laws is a founding principle in the 14th Amendment, as it is in the British Magna Carta.
We were promised that artificial intelligence could hold the cure to cancer.
Yet it is turning into a cancer which left unchecked has the potential to harm us all.
Today, the New York City Council is bringing forward some important checks and balances.
You do so as responsible legislators at a time when AI companies are failing to take responsibility for the design and impact of their products.
Until they do, and until those designs are corrected so women and girls are protected from the harm that my claim and others'evidence is, we must play our part.
This technology does not respect...
geographic boundaries, and without international cooperation, our citizens will be left defenseless against those who put profit before protection.
So I bring a message of bipartisan solidarity.
I fight my legal action in the name of all the women and children whose likeness was misused by Grok and other AI tools built without their protection in mind.
I hope my cause in some way helps to inform your proceedings today.
And I look forward to your questions.