Musk's xAI Sues to Block Minnesota Ban on AI 'Nudification' Apps

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, has sued to block a new Minnesota law banning AI applications that let users depict real people as naked without their consent, arguing the measure violates free speech rights.

The law takes effect Saturday. It prohibits so-called nudification technology, allows people portrayed in such images to sue AI companies for damages, and permits the state to fine companies $500,000 for each illegal use. Supporters say it is the first law of its kind in the country. It passed the legislature almost unanimously.

In its lawsuit filed this week, xAI said the law violates the rights of the company and of Minnesotans who use its AI model, Grok. The complaint includes a fake image of President Donald Trump and Cabinet members in swimsuits, posted by Trump, as an example of satire the company claims the law could criminalize. xAI did not respond to an interview request from NPR.

Some AI companies worked with lawmakers as the bill was drafted, and they are not suing.

The measure grew out of cases such as that of Megan Hurley, who learned a little more than two years ago that a Minnesota man had used photos of dozens of acquaintances to produce AI deepfake nude images without their consent. "A man I once considered a dear friend had used an easily accessible website to make disturbing nude photos and videos of me and many women I know," she said. Law enforcement could not help, she said.

"I've been in a state of grief, rage or despair since then," Hurley said. "I have never taken nudes. I have never exchanged nudes with anyone. But now there are convincing pornographic images and videos of me somewhere online forever."

State Sen. Erin Maye Quade said the technology "will be illegal in Minnesota, and the Big Tech corporations that profit off of image-based sexual abuse will be held accountable."

Eugene Volokh, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, questioned whether the law places too heavy a burden on tech firms. "Even if they use kind of industry-standard, state-of-the-art technology to try to prevent nudification, if something gets through, then in that case, they could potentially be liable," he said. A court could find the law too broad, he added, though a narrower version might survive.

Supporters say the law makes exceptions for artistic uses and applies only when the depiction is realistic enough that people would believe it is the person. Attorney General Keith Ellison has said he will defend it in court, writing on X that using AI to create nude images of people against their will is appalling.