Minnesota AI nudification ban takes effect after xAI challenge

Minnesota became the first state to ban AI nudification technology, with HF 1606 taking effect after a federal judge denied xAI’s request for a temporary restraining order. The law bars sites and apps from generating realistic, non-consensual sexualized images of real, identifiable people and creates a path for victims and the attorney general’s office to pursue companies behind the technology.

Elon Musk’s xAI, now owned by SpaceX, sued Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison days before the effective date, arguing the statute is an “overbroad, content-based ban on free speech and the tools of visual expression.” The case will continue, with a hearing set for the following month.

The legislation followed reports from women whose social media photos were turned into hyperrealistic sexual images and videos. It passed unanimously in the state Senate and with support from all but one lawmaker in the House. Each violation can carry a civil penalty of up to $500,000, with proceeds funding services for victims of sexual assault and abuse.

The dispute offers an early test for generative image companies facing state-level content rules. Minnesota’s law exempts tools requiring “substantial application of technological or artistic skill by a human creator directing and controlling the output,” a distinction likely to influence consent and control features in AI image products.