The suit claims that the legislation also bans images that were protected by the constitution
Elon Musk’s xAI has challenged Minnesota’s watershed legislation prohibiting the use of “nudification” technology on websites and apps, reported The Associated Press.
The first-in-the-nation law, which was signed in May, will make Minnesota the first US state to ban technology that uses artificial intelligence to generate fake nude images of real people. It is scheduled to come into force on Saturday August 1; under the law, xAI would face a US$500,000 fine for each violation.
xAI, the developer of the AI chatbot and image generator Grok, filed its 38-page suit on Monday July 27 in federal court. The suit claims that while it supported Minnesota’s desire to protect people from having AI nudes of them distributed without their consent, the law would also block constitutionally protected images and video.
The company argued that the law did not have a “safe harbor” provision in place for organizations making good-faith efforts to ban nudes created without a person’s consent; moreover, it included images consented to or created by a person. xAI also said the law had a broad definition of “intimate part” that included body parts often shown in public.
The company said that the terms of service for Grok banned the tool’s use in “any illegal, harmful, or abusive activities” that breached privacy. xAI claimed that it suspended or terminated the accounts of those who violated those terms and also flagged content suspected of containing child sexual abuse.
Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison said his office had yet to see or be served the suit. He emphasized that the ability to use AI to produce nudes without consent was “appalling.”
“There are plenty of worthy debates to have about AI policy. This is not one of them. AI nudification robs the target of their dignity and can cause immense harm on an emotional, personal, and professional level,” Ellison said in a statement published by AP News.
Last year, Texas established that website or app owners would become liable for civil damages from a person depicted in a nudified image. Owners would also be subject to criminal penalties if they failed to remove a flagged image or were found to be aware of nonconsent to an image’s creation.
X Corp had previously tried to challenge the constitutionality of a Minnesota law banning the use of deepfakes to influence elections and damage candidates, claiming that the law breached the right to free speech in the First Amendment.
