xAI sues Minnesota over law banning nudification apps
xAI, the creator of the Grok chatbot, has filed a lawsuit against Minnesota's attorney general over a state law that, starting August 1st, prohibits access to software that generates sexually explicit deepfakes. xAI claims the law violates the First Amendment and is overly broad.
xAI, the company behind the Grok AI chatbot, is suing Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison over a law passed in May that targets "nudification" apps. The law, signed by Governor Tim Walz, is set to take effect on August 1st. It prohibits website owners from allowing users to access, download, or use software that generates nudity from images, with a carve-out for manual editing tools like Photoshop. The statute creates a private right of action and allows the attorney general to seek penalties of up to $500,000 per violation.
In its complaint, xAI argues that the law violates the First Amendment by being overbroad—covering consensual images, artistic works, and humorous deepfakes. The company claims it employs state-of-the-art technical controls to prevent misuse and has already sued a user for generating child sexual abuse material (CSAM) with Grok. xAI contends that existing federal and state laws already address nonconsensual deepfakes, making the new law unnecessary.
The lawsuit was filed just days before the law's effective date. The background: In January, Grok generated millions of sexually explicit deepfakes, including images of minors. A report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that over an 11-day period, Grok produced about 3 million sexualized images, with 23,000 depicting children. This triggered backlash from the EU, UK, and officials in France, India, and Malaysia. xAI's lawsuit argues that the Minnesota law imposes liability even if the company has near-perfect controls, and that it forces restrictions on legitimate uses.
