Judge Lets Minnesota Nudification Ban Take Effect
A federal judge on July 31 denied xAI's request to temporarily block Minnesota's AI nudification law, allowing it to take effect August 1. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank cited xAI's late filing in finding no immediate harm, NBC News and UPI report. The court scheduled an August 19 hearing on xAI's request for a preliminary injunction.
A federal judge on July 31 denied xAI's request for an emergency order blocking Minnesota's ban on AI-enabled "nudification," allowing the law to take effect on August 1. The statute is described by NBC News as the first state law in the United States to prohibit websites, applications, and software operators from allowing users to digitally remove clothing from images of other people.
U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank denied xAI's request for a temporary restraining order, citing the timing of its filing. According to the court order quoted by NBC News and UPI, xAI filed its motion on July 29, nearly three months after Gov. Tim Walz signed the law and three days before its effective date. "Such a delay in bringing the action and the motion suggests that harm is not immediate," Frank wrote.
The court did not resolve xAI's underlying constitutional challenge. Valley News Live reports that Frank will treat the request as one for a preliminary injunction, with a hearing scheduled for August 19 in St. Paul.
What Minnesota's law covers
Valley News Live reports that HF 1606 defines nudification as altering or generating an image or video to depict an intimate part that was not visible in an original, unaltered image of an identifiable person. The law targets operators of relevant services rather than individual users, according to the outlet.
NBC News reports that the statute also prohibits advertising nudification capabilities. UPI reports that websites and applications providing the technology can face fines of up to $500,000.
The legislation passed with near-unanimous votes, 132-1 in the Minnesota House and 65-0 in the Senate, according to Valley News Live.
## xAI's First Amendment challenge remains pending
xAI, the developer of the Grok chatbot and image-generation tools, filed suit this week challenging the statute under the First Amendment. In court filings cited by UPI, xAI did not contest Minnesota's interest in prohibiting nonconsensual AI-generated nude images of real people. It argued instead that the law is "overbroad" and a content-based restriction that could expose protected expression to civil liability and government sanctions.
Valley News Live reports that xAI also argued the statute imposes strict liability on platform operators, including where an operator has terms of service or technical controls intended to prohibit nudification. The outlet reported that xAI's complaint cited its Grok Imagine policy prohibiting nonconsensual nude or sexualized images of real people, alongside claims that it had suspended more than 50,000 accounts and submitted more than 70,000 reports to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 2026.
NBC News and UPI note that Grok has faced scrutiny after a version released in December generated sexualized images. UPI reports that xAI changed policies in January.
For AI platform teams, the case places operational safeguards and statutory definitions in the same legal frame. Comparable state-level rules can require model providers, application developers, and distribution platforms to assess image-generation controls, reporting workflows, advertising, and the extent of their responsibility for user-created content. The August hearing will determine whether Minnesota may enforce the law while the broader First Amendment case proceeds.
Key Points
- 1Minnesota's law takes effect August 1 after a federal court rejected xAI's emergency request to halt enforcement.
- 2xAI's constitutional challenge remains active, with the court set to consider a preliminary injunction on August 19.
- 3Comparable platform rules often make image-generation safeguards, operator liability, and user-content controls central engineering and legal concerns.
Scoring Rationale
The ruling allows a first-in-the-nation state restriction on AI nudification services to take effect, directly affecting image-generation platforms and their operators. Its pending constitutional challenge makes the case relevant to teams building or distributing generative-media products, although the decision is an interim procedural ruling rather than a final merits judgment.
Sources
Public references used for this report.
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