US judge upholds Minnesota law against AI-generated nude deepfakes

A United States federal judge refused to suspend Minnesota's law against fake nude images generated by artificial intelligence this Friday (4). The decision defines that the ban — the first of its kind in the USA — will be maintained pending the processing of a challenge presented by Elon Musk's xAI.

xAI argues that the measure restricts freedom of expression protected by the US Constitution. Minnesota, for its part, says the law was carefully crafted to curb the spread of nonconsensual sexual images created with AI.

Judge Donovan Frank rejected xAI's request for a preliminary injunction against the law, which took effect Aug. 1 and prohibits website operators, software developers and others from allowing users to "undress" identifiable people in images using AI.

In the decision, Frank stated that xAI failed to demonstrate that it would suffer damages while pursuing the lawsuit in which it alleges that the new law violates the First Amendment of the Constitution.

"The constitutional issues raised by the parties are complex, particularly when considered in the context of this new technology and the risks it poses to the public," Frank wrote. "These issues deserve — and will receive — a thorough review."

xAI and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a document presented to the Court this Friday, the company said it will appeal the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison of the Democratic Party said the state law received "overwhelming bipartisan support and nearly unanimous approval" from state lawmakers.

"These nudity apps have been used to generate child sexual abuse material and harass people in the most disgusting ways imaginable," Ellison said in a statement Friday. "This abhorrent behavior is not welcome in Minnesota."

In July, the judge had already rejected Musk's attempt to prevent the law from coming into force, but agreed to speed up the analysis of the measure.

Musk's AI chatbot Grok has faced criticism for creating sexually explicit content. Regulatory bodies have advocated stricter safeguards and imposed bans to help curb the spread of artificially created illegal material.

xAI has begun prosecuting users who it says are bypassing Grok's technological blocks to create sexual images of people without their consent.