US appeals court blocks Minnesota law barring 'nudified' photos in XAI lawsuit
FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
WASHINGTON, Oct 2 : Elon Musk's xAI on Friday persuaded a US federal appeals court to halt Minnesota's first-in-the-nation ban on AI-generated fake nude images as the technology and social media company pursues a lawsuit alleging that the law is unconstitutional.
The St. Louis-based 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals in its order put the law on hold for now, granting a request for an injunction by xAI. A lower court judge last month had rejected Musk's bid for an order stopping the law.
The state's anti-"nudification" law, which took effect on August 1, prohibits website operators, software developers and others from allowing users to create realistic images depicting an intimate body part that is not shown in an original photo of an identifiable individual.
xAI alleges the measure restricts free speech protected by the US Constitution.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office said in a statement on Friday it is disappointed by the appeals court ruling and will defend the new state law as xAI's appeal moves forward.
"Minnesota's nudification ban outlaws AI technology products from generating sexual images that harm and harass people in the vilest way possible," Ellison spokesperson John Stiles said.
xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US District Judge Donovan Frank ruled last month that xAI had not shown it would suffer irreparable harm while challenging the law and said the company had waited too long to seek emergency relief.
In its appeal, xAI disputed the judge's finding that it delayed bringing suit. The company also said its Grok Imagine tool includes "rigorous protections" against creating nudified or sexualized images of real people.
xAI has begun suing users whom it alleges are evading Grok’s technological blockers to create sexual images of people without their consent.
Minnesota had urged the appeals court not to block the law. The state has said it adopted the measure this year to combat the spread of what it called a "staggering amount (of) child sexual abuse material that AI products like Grok Imagine generate."
