xAI, the artificial intelligence company owned by Elon Musk, filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging a Minnesota law that bans so-called nudification technology, arguing the statute unconstitutionally restricts free speech just days before it was set to take effect.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota against Attorney General Keith Ellison and reported by CBS News Minnesota, targets a law that bans apps and websites from letting users generate fake nude or sexualized images and videos of real people without their consent. According to MPR News, the law was scheduled to take effect Saturday, Aug. 1.
xAI does not dispute Minnesota’s interest in stopping nonconsensual AI nudity, but argues the law “extends far beyond that goal.” The law punishes AI platforms for letting users depict a person’s intimate parts through nudification tools, with violators facing at least $500,000 in damages per unlawful use.
The measure passed the Minnesota House 132-1 and the Senate 65-0 during the 2026 legislative session. Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, authored the bill after women approached her describing hyperrealistic nonconsensual AI images made from their social media photos.
In the lawsuit, xAI argues its own platform already bars users from generating nonconsensual nude images and that the company has sued users who evaded its safeguards to do so anyway. According to Bloomberg Law, the complaint argues the law is presumptively unconstitutional and must be struck down unless the state can show it is narrowly tailored to a compelling government interest.
Rep. Jess Hanson, DFL-Burnsville, the bill’s lead House sponsor, called the lawsuit “absolutely disgusting,” according to KARE 11, and said Minnesotans would stand together to protect children and women from exploitation by tech companies and billionaires. Gov. Tim Walz responded to the lawsuit on social media with a brief message: “See you in court, creep,” per the Star Tribune.
This is not xAI’s first Minnesota court fight. The Star Tribune noted that Musk’s platform X sued the state last year over a 2023 law criminalizing the sharing of election-related deepfakes, a case still pending in federal appeals court on similar First Amendment grounds.
Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault representatives have said nudification technology has become an increasing tool in school cyberbullying, with young girls frequently targeted by sexually explicit deepfakes bearing their likeness, according to the Minnesota Reformer.
