Minnesota defends AI nudification ban after lawsuit from xAI

Minnesota is drawing a line in the sand on AI-generated nonconsensual intimate imagery, and Elon Musk’s xAI is the first major company to push back. Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a court response on August 17 defending the state’s new law banning so-called “nudification” technology, just weeks after xAI sued to block it. The law, known as HF 1606, took effect on August 1. It prohibits operators of websites, apps, and software from allowing users to create or share AI-generated images or videos that depict identifiable individuals in a sexualized manner without their consent. Violations carry penalties of up to $500,000 each. The lawsuit and the stakes xAI filed its lawsuit on July 27-28 in the US District Court for Minnesota, seeking a declaratory judgment that the law is unconstitutional. The company’s core argument is a familiar one in tech-versus-government disputes: the First Amendment. xAI contends the statute is overbroad, imposing restrictions that sweep up protected forms of visual expression alongside genuinely harmful content. xAI requested a temporary restraining order, asking a judge to pause the law while the case played out. US District Judge Donovan Frank deni...