xAI wins appeals court injunction against Minnesota’s anti-nudification law

Elon Musk’s xAI has won a round in its fight against Minnesota’s first-of-its-kind law targeting AI-generated nude images. The 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked enforcement of the statute, known as HF 1606, while the company’s constitutional challenge plays out. The ruling, issued on or about October 2, 2026, pauses a law that legislators passed with near-total agreement. It gives xAI breathing room. It does not give the company a win on the merits. What the court did, and what it didn’t HF 1606 targets so-called nudification. That is the practice of feeding a real photo of an identifiable person into an AI tool and getting back an image or video that shows their intimate body parts. The law bars generating that kind of content from original images without the depicted person’s consent. Civil penalties under the statute can reach up to $500,000 per occurrence. The law was enacted on May 7, 2026, and took effect on August 1. xAI filed suit against Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on or around July 27, 2026, just days before the effective date. A federal judge denied xAI’s request for a temporary restraining order on July 31, 2026, one day before the law kic...