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Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company is suing Minnesota over a first-in-the-nation law banning technology that allows users to create and post deepfake videos or images of people naked without their consent.

In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota, 

 LLC argues the law is “clumsy” and that it’s already policing users to pinpoint bad actors. The law passed the Legislature this year with nearly unanimous support and is set to take effect on Saturday.

, the use, advertisement and dissemination of nudification technology will be banned in Minnesota. The law provides an option for those portrayed in the deepfake images to bring a civil lawsuit and seek damages.

Companies that violate the law could face a $500,000 penalty for each unlawful use. There are exceptions within law for cases that require technical or artistic skill.

, x.AI said it prohibits its users from creating nude deepfakes without the consent of the person whose likeness is being featured. Attorneys for the company say, if enacted, the law would significantly abridge Grok and Grok Imagine users’ First Amendment rights. The company’s legal complaint said should the law take hold this week, the platform will limit services for users in the state.

“Satirical images restored or animated family photographs, and creative projects that Minnesota users could have made by editing images with Grok Imagine will be affected — not because x.AI’s policies permit misuse (they forbid it), but because HF 1606 leaves x.AI no choice,” the company wrote in its complaint.

The filing contends the law is unconstitutional and should be placed on hold while the case proceeds or be struck down entirely.

“Although Minnesota likely has a compelling interest in preventing individuals from creating nudes of other people without consent and distributing that content, the statute punishes AI platforms for assisting in the creation of a substantial amount of protected speech in relation to that limited goal,” the company wrote.

The complaint includes satirical pictures of President Donald Trump in scant clothing as well as Musk himself to make the point that the law might criminalize more content than Minnesota lawmakers intended.

“The examples are endless,” the complaint reads. “Anyone with a computer and an internet connection can make humorous, scientific, artistic, satirical or innocuous images that Minnesota’s HF 1606 bans as ‘nudification.’”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, 

“Using AI to generate nude images of people against their will is appalling. There are plenty of worthy debates to have about AI. This is not one of them. AI nudification robs the target of their dignity and could cause them immense harm on many levels,” Ellison wrote. “I'll see X in court.”

Minnesota lawmakers were preparing to tout its enactment with a news conference on Wednesday.

One of its sponsors, DFL Sen. Erin Maye Quade of Apple Valley, noted that there was only a single dissenting vote in the House and Senate.

In promoting the event, Maye Quade’s staff said, “This technology has allowed individuals to produce hyper-realistic deep-fake images and videos of people by simply inputting publicly available photos of them, violating the privacy and trust of unsuspecting Minnesotans.”

The House sponsor of the law, DFL Rep. Jess Hanson of Burnsville, said the pushback didn’t come as a surprise but she hoped that the companies would abide by the law.

“They're kind of being like, ‘Well, it's not our fault what people choose to do,’ but at the same time, you're providing the tool, right?” she said. “And there's no constitutional protection for providing a tool like that.”

Hanson said that AI tools are some of the most prevalent ways in which child pornography is being made and said companies should be working in conjunction with laws trying to stop it.

“It’d be great if they jumped on board and joined us in doing this, rather than showing us that they'll make profit by any means necessary,” she said.

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Minnesota’s anti-nudification law is supposed to take effect on Saturday. It is being challenged in federal court by a company led by Elon Musk.

A person holds a smartphone with the Grok logo in front of international flags.

Elon Musk’s company sues Minnesota over new law to bar manipulated images to fake nudity

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